A PLAN with a clear and strong vision to take Dunfermline forward as a city will be drawn up following a conference in the city this week.

Over 200 community stakeholders gathered at the Glen Pavilion on Tuesday for the event which brought together community representatives, business leaders and other interested parties who had the chance to have their say on what should be done to capitalise on the city status which was granted last year.

Speakers included Fife Council leader, councillor David Ross, and the local authority's Head of Business and Employability, Gordon Mole, as well as Dunfermline Athletic's chief executive David Cook and Carnegie Dunfermline Trust's chief executive Gillian Taylor.

Cllr Ross was pleased to hear a diverse range of views from those who attended.

"One of the things is there is a selling job to do to the local community about the opportunities and the potential that city status gives us," he said. "It is a really sound foundation to start with.

"The potential of the power of partnership and collaboration gives you much more freedom to do things and achieve things and we have to build on that. Coming up with that kind of collective vision that people can go away and do their own thing and know they are contributing to something bigger."

Gordon Mole, from Fife Council, said the key message was that the way forward was a "shared" enterprise.

"A lot of work has been done with stakeholders in the months that followed when we got that city status in August. We have seen real highlights with the royal visits and the King's first official engagement.

"Now, it is about what collective enterprise looks like. In terms of the next steps, over the summer we will look at the messages coming out of today. The plan contains everything we already have and assesses the future opportunities, short term, medium and long term. We have permanent city status and continue to capitalise on that."

Councillor James Calder, convener of the City of Dunfermline area committee, said working together with the wider community and wider businesses was part of the continuing work to make the city status a success.

He added: "Hopefully we can bring together all the visions we have, all the experiences and create a vision for Dunfermline as a city that all the community can buy into.

"I think from my perspective, we need to see a city which benefits everybody. The economy is important but it is not the be all and end all. Fundamentally, I would like to see a city where well being of its residents is one of the most important threads in that.

"Hopefully we can be that city of well being and the people of Dunfermline can be proud of and also enjoy being part of."

Dunfermline and West Fife MP Douglas Chapman was one of those in attendance at Tuesday's conference.

He said the pride in the city was evident by all those taking part.

"How that can be taken forward through developing much more of a can-do attitude, that entrepreneurial attitude of Carnegie," he continued. "A strong theme was about involving everyone and thinking about their well being in the future.

"We already have a city awash with assets and great people already connected but we know we can do a lot more and it is about being ambitious and taking forward a plan that everyone feels they are part of."