Ambitious plan to turn Fife park into visitor destination

Plans have been proposed to turn Riverside Park in Glenrothes into a visitor destination.

At Glenrothes area committee on Wednesday, Kevin O’Kane, greenspace officer, told councillors there was an ambitious ten year plan to transform the park.

After two consultations, he devised a list of long and short term improvements, including upgrading the walkways, creating a Lomond Hill viewpoint, as well as sensory gardens and family BBQ areas.

Mr O’Kane told councillors: “We haven’t got a big pot of money to work with, but if we work towards a plan there are funds we can start to bid for.

“Glenrothes is lucky to have this in the town centre. It’s not just about improving the infrastructure, but raising brand awareness.

“We need to have a better online presence, and get more organisations involved.”

Summer activities have been very successful with hundreds of families attending events.

The Easter egg hunt last year was also particularly well attended – the Friends of Riverside Park, a group working on promoting the park, had expected around 100 people but more than 500 showed up.

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Mr O’Kane said this plan was about creating a roadmap to develop the park over the next decade, adding: “People want things to do in the parks, so we need better provision. Activity is already happening, but we would need more funds to improve the infrastructure. 

“In the old days, it would be the council doing these things, but we’ve found it’s more effective when local groups do it as they take more ownership.”

Peter Duff, who chairs theFriends of Riverside Park, added: “Two years ago we ran a competition to name all the new walkways in the parks and got hundreds of entries.

“The leaflets are all posted in local hotels too and the feedback we get is that the take up has been great. A lot of visitors who have a couple of hours free and can enjoy the walks.”

Cllr Mick Green raised concerns about disabled access from the town centre down into the park, due to the steep hill.

Mr O’Kane said: “Access from the town centre is one of the issues we’ve identified. It is an issue. We looked into creating a car park next to the skate park, which would be much more central for people to access but that entails having to slow cars down on an already busy road.

“I’m not saying there is plans, but is has been identified as an issue.”

He added that it would cost £500,000 just to put in railings down the slope.

Convener of the committee Fiona Grant asked if the group could put together a list of projects and their costs for projects over the next two years, and bring back to the committee in the next six months, saying: “By then, we will know our budget and have money to put in.”