THE demise of an organisation which has been striving to improve Dunfermline town centre for over a decade has been described as "heartbreaking".

Dunfermline Delivers, followed by Delivering Dunfermline, has been responsible for an array of events and initiatives in the town centre including the Christmas lights and the Outwith Festival since it was set up in 2009.

The Business Improvement District (BID) company won its first renewal vote in 2014 however lost it's latest bid for re-election in June last year and was officially wound up in September.

At the time, councillors were warned that, if nothing replaced it, the town faced “significant risks” and would suffer.

Among the dire predictions were a rise in crime and anti-social behaviour, a drop in footfall, more empty shops and less events.

Fife Council approved up to £100,000 of “transitional funding” in August to keep town centre initiatives and events going until the end of the financial year.

This have the new group six months’ breathing space to come up with a new model and identify a new funding stream.

Around 400 traders paid an annual levy which, together with grants from other groups and funding from Fife Council through the City of Dunfermline area committee, allowed Dunfermline Delivers to spend around £400,000 a year, £2 million over the five-year term, on the betterment of the town centre.

This included major events such as the fireworks in Pittencrieff Park, the Christmas lights switch-on, Outwith Festival, Food and Craft Weekend as well as a whole range of initiatives and business support, such as the Purple Flag award for night-time safety, bus and taxi marshals, floral enhancement scheme and shopfront grants.

Ballot papers were issued last summer to all BID businesses and levy payers inviting them to vote in the renewal ballot.

There were 99 votes in favour of the BID proposal to renew for a further five-year term and 51 votes against.

However, there was a majority ‘No’ vote by £4,159,250 terms of rateable value compared with £3,632,725 ‘Yes’ vote.

Although there was a large majority of Yes votes in terms of numbers, the rateable value marginal result meant that Dunfermline Delivers would no longer carry out their work in the town.

After the defeat, Dunfermline Delivers was accused of running a poor election campaign. Scotland’s Improvement Districts, which looks after BIDs across the country, had also advised the board to re-group and return with another BID in a year’s time, warning that an alternative model such as a Community Interest Company (CIC) “has no way of generating revenue”.

However, a new CIC called Delivering Dunfermline was set up and, in August last year, it was granted £100,000 from Fife Council to keep going until a new source of funding could be found.

When the transitional funding ran out around the end of March, the council agreed short-term funding however, after staff were left on furlough, councillors at the City of Dunfermline Area Committee were told on Monday that it was to cease operating.

Committee convener, Councillor Helen Law, paid tribute to the work carried out by the Delivering Dunfermline team.

"They made such a significant contribution," she said. "There was a date in the diary to have a meeting with the Scottish Government to see if we could get some funding – we had hoped to get funding through under a new model but lockdown happened and that meeting didn't materialise.

"It is absolutely heartbreaking. They were a huge asset to Dunfermline and we are going to have to council fund a post which isn't going to replace the work they did but certainly cover part of the work they did.

"It is not the same as the BID but there will be some crossover functions."