Ambitious £180m plan could help bring jobs to Levenmouth

There is a sense that when it comes to big projects, investment, jobs, that the Levenmouth area is at the bottom of the list.

That is beginning to change, with around £100 million being invested in the area through the restored rail link and River Leven project.

But more needs to be done.

Mid Fife has lower wages, fewer jobs, more empty shops, out-dated industrial estates, poor quality of housing and is crying out for investment.

An area which was once Fife’s industrial heartland has been scarred deeper than anywhere else by the recession.

Today, the coal mines are consigned to history and a slew of major employers with work forces of 1000 or more have all gone.

The decline is underlined by the fact mid Fife is short of almost 20,000 jobs and no longer has a single major employment centre, as many other areas do.

It is a heartland in need of major surgery to give it a new sense of purpose.

A new action plan outlined this week, for Fife Council and Scottish Enterprise, does not spare its shortcomings.

However, it also lays out a vision that is big and bold – and comes with an eye-watering price tag.

To transform Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, Leven and Cowdenbeath will cost £160 million to £180 million.

That resource is beyond Fife Council and requires serious investment from a host of agencies in order to deliver, but a route map has at least been drawn up for the rest of this decade.

The report highlights the task facing Levenmouth. The area has the lowest levels of economic activity in mid Fife and high levels of health deprivation, especially in Methil.

At the moment, Levenmouth accounts for 16 per cent of the mid Fife business base, and has around half the number of businesses found in Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy.

The number of businesses declined by 1.9 per cent between 2016-2018, at a time of growth across Scotland.

Business density, the number of businesses per 10,000 people, in Levenmouth (18.8) is well below the Scottish average (32.2), with an additional 489 businesses needed to match.

The Levenmouth area has the second lowest employment base in mid Fife (8261) with only a 0.6 per cent growth in employment numbers between 2015-2017, compared to 2.2 in Fife as a whole.

Levenmouth had the lowest amount of start-ups within mid Fife.

There are also 1000 fewer women in employment in the Levenmouth area than the Scottish average.

However, there are plenty of opportunities.

The report describes the Levenmouth area as offering the ‘greatest potential in terms of radical and disruptive actions’, highlighting the impact the rail link and River Leven project could have on the area.

It also notes the new high-end golf course, Dumbarnie Links, which could bring golf tourism to the area.

The report suggests several priorities which could help change this.

These include improving connectivity with Edinburgh and the rest of Fife; supporting and encouraging the take-up of housing and employment land; further developing the active leisure and tourism offering in the area; raising skills, aspiration and inspiration in children and young people; and improving perceptions of the area.

The bottom line is simple, says the report author, Richard Whitcomb: “More of the same will not make the required step-change in mid Fife.”

But he warned: “It is essential to note that the plan cannot be delivered within the current envelope of available resources.

“What is fundamental, is that this is a multi-agency plan and that there is a multi-agency response.”

The council already has a ten-year action plan which started in 2017 but we are three years into it, underlining the urgency behind taking the next, major steps to deliver transformational change.

“Councillor Ken Caldwell, convener of Levenmouth Are Committee, said: “I welcome the idea of the Mid Fife Action Plan, as it will put a focus on the potential development of mid Fife and, in particular, I would like a focus on Levenmouth.

“While we have been tackling these issues locally recently, and working with partner organisation organisations, it has been pretty much small scale.

“We have a fantastic opportunity in Levenmouth to take advantage of any opportunities that arise, especially with the coming of the Levenmouth Rail link, the River Leven project and the proposed developments at Silverburn Park, to really put Levenmouth on the map.

“Levenmouth has fallen behind other Areas in mid Fife and the wider Fife area to grow economically in the past few years

“We need to raise the aspirations and skill sets of the workforce in the area and develop a more enterprising culture.

“To this end we have been supporting partner organisations such as the Community Trade Hub in Buckhaven and there is a local course starting soon to help people set up in business.

“Plans are great, but we need more detail as to how this plan will be put in place and how it will be funded.

“We need big changes in Levenmouth and this calls for big ideas.

“The potential is there, the opportunities are there, we just need a suitable plan, suitably funded.”