Kingdom's community groups invited to explore making use of the land around 70 plus NHS Fife sites

As part of their 2030 Greenspace Strategy NHS Fife intends to collaborate with local partners, including Fife Climate Hub, to see how they can work together as a community to enhance the Health Board’s greenspace for the benefit of everyone in Fife.

The strategy aims to deliver a ground-breaking approach to meeting commitments of the NHS Scotland Climate Emergency and Sustainability Strategy. It wants to ensure that their ‘green estate’ delivers health benefits to staff, patients and the wider community.

Fife Communities Climate Action Network (FCCAN), whose main project is Fife Climate Hub, is reaching out to its members inviting them to take part in the initial stage of this new project by attending an online introductory event on Tuesday, February 13.

Craig Leitch, manager of Fife Climate Hub, said: “We are thrilled to be asked to support NHS Fife with the plans to involve communities in using the land around hospitals, health centres and dental practices. We hope to see trees planted, community gardens created and wildflower meadows popping up around hospitals and doctors’ surgeries across Fife.

“It will be an excellent opportunity for communities to come together and bring their ideas for tackling the climate emergency to fruition and to create more community spaces for people to enjoy and meet.”

Fife Climate Hub is a Scottish Government funded project begun by FCCAN since June 2023. More than 50 community group are members of the network, and their activities cover anything from growing veg and cooking food, to repair and re-use, to biodiversity enhancement. The Hub is holding an event on February 13 online to reach out to both their members and the wider public to judge interest in taking on the land for community use.

Kathryn Hastie, Sustainability Officer with NHS Fife said: “As a health Board, our primary focus is the health and wellbeing of both patients and the staff who care for them. Through our Greenspace Strategy we are aiming to better utilise our estate, ensuring we can have an even greater impact on the factors that help us to improve our health.

“In our role as an anchor institution, we recognise the importance of contributing towards positive change and we aim to do this by working with local projects to use areas of our estate for the benefit of the wider communities we serve." During the event Kathryn and colleague Yasmine Morgan fellow Sustainability Officer with NHS Fife will outline exactly what the NHS Fife greenspace strategy hopes to achieve and the range of opportunities available to communities.

Kathryn added: “While implementing our strategy is in its early stages, we will discuss the potential external funding opportunities, what project support will be available as well as what would be expected from to start a project. Finally, we will discuss what the next steps are if you are interested and want to get involved,” said Kathryn.

If you are part of a community group, community council or development trusts in Fife come along to the session to find out more.

The event will be held online and is free to attend. It is on Tuesday, 13 February 2024, from 6pm to 7.30pm. Find out more at fccan.org.uk/events