DUNFERMLINE looks likely to miss out on the lion’s share of Scottish Government funding to help revitalise town centres.

We’re going to get just six per cent of the £4.7 million pot – a total of £300,000 for the development of the Maygate Enterprise Hub – while Kirkcaldy will receive a bumper £1.63m injection.
Leven will get £800,000, Glenrothes £570,00 and Cupar £450,000. 

There will be £350,000 for Cowdenbeath, £300,000 for Lochgelly and £170,000 for Inverkeithing which will be used to expand the impact of the built heritage programme.

The recommendations – due to be discussed by the council’s policy and co-ordination committee on Tuesday – come after Mid Fife, particularly Kirkcaldy, was highlighted as the “priority” area having suffered the effects of rapid decline and lack of significant investment for a number of years.

This means areas needing addressed in Dunfermline will now have to source alternative funding to progress.

Senior Dunfermline councillor Helen Law had asked for cash for three projects – the Maygate hub, the High Street Gap site and the development of St Margaret’s House – but only one bid was successful.

Work will now continue on business cases for the other two.

Although disappointed not to have money for all three, Cllr Law told the Press that major improvement had already taken place which had helped Dunfermline become one of the fastest-growing town centres in Scotland.

“There is a lot of commitment to working in Dunfermline but I still remain a bit disappointed that we have not done better out of the funding but we are still committed to taking the other projects forward,” she said.

“We are a bit of a victim of our own success. If you are in Dunfermline, you can feel the vibrancy which is not present in other communities and these other communities are desperate for support but we do not want Dunfermline to be left behind.

“We will continue to fight for all the projects on the table to go forward.”

The proposed spend has been welcomed by Fife Council co-leaders, Councillors David Ross and David Alexander, who represent areas in Kirkcaldy and Leven respectively.

Cllr Ross said they had to look carefully at where investment was most needed.

“There will be many towns across Fife that would like to benefit from this initiative but if we spread what is a relatively small amount of funding too thinly then we will fail to make a real impact with it,” he said.

“It is the town centres in Mid Fife and the Mid Fife economy more generally that are in greatest need of support and the proposed allocation of funding to projects reflects this.”

Cllr Alexander added: “There are no overnight fixes but, with a range of partners, we’re working towards town centres where people of all ages can live, work and visit to enjoy a mix of leisure, tourism, retail, culture and heritage opportunities.

“Fife was awarded the largest amount of funding and we want to spread the benefits across the Kingdom but must also address the pressing need for economic support in Mid Fife in particular.”

In April, Joe McGuinness, the former area services manager for Dunfermline, expressed his concern about the area missing out on money because other places were more in need.

He told the Press this would be “a real slap in the face for the town”, adding that the funding was intended to help with town centre development and regeneration, not to tackle deprivation or high unemployment.

He said Dunfermline was in the best position as it already had a local community plan that was “second to none” and there were a “number of shovel-ready projects” that could benefit from capital expenditure to get them up and running.