Parents bid for £30,000 to improve ‘rubbish’ Glenrothes playpark knocked back

Glenrothes area committee took the decision after being asked to invest in new play equipment at Carleton Park in Woodside. The request came via a local parent group at Carleton Primary School.

Louise Whyte, capital project manager for Glenrothes, said the current play park was described as “rubbish”, and told councillors that parents are taking their children to other villages to play.

“They’re really keen to see a wee bit of investment in the play park and they’re happy to support the project with their own fundraising efforts,” she said.

The park is already earmarked for a £50,000 investment in 2026-27, but the group is trying to push improvement efforts forward as soon as possible.

“Community groups can access external funds that Fife Council can’t so when there’s a group that comes knocking on our door, we want to work with to raise money,” she said. However, the £30,000 request generated concerns and questions from several councillors .

According to Councillor Craig Walker (SNP for Glenrothes West and Kinglassie), Fife Council has already created a comprehensive play park strategy which earmarked funding for a variety of parks across the Kingdom in the coming years – including Carleton.

“Fair play to this group for being active and trying to get ahead of the game, but you could argue there are other groups all over other wards who might want to do the same,” he said.

He questioned where this request process for community groups had come from and how it will be managed going forward.

“I’m sure we’ll all be keen to get as many play parks in Fife upgraded, but this seems a bit left field when none of us were aware this particular process was available,” he added. “I’m deeply uncomfortable with setting a precedent here when we've already got a play strategy in place. With respect, it cannot be for officers to decide which playparks to get capital funding, and that seems to be what’s happening here.”

Councillor Peter Gulline (Conservative for Glenrothes North, Leslie and Markinch) agreed that the committee could be “opening the gates for every community group to come ask for £30,000”.

Although other councillors were concerned that the unallocated £30,000 could be “clawed back” through savings measures, the committee couldn’t get past the questions about precedent and process.

“It's clear some other element has now been thrown into the mix and I’m not clear on how it works,” Cllr Walker said. “I think it needs to be clear before approving this recommendation. I’m not saying we should throw it out – and kudos to the community group trying to drive this project forward, this is no criticism of those involved – but I’m worried about the precedent it sets and how we manage requests going forward.”

After a short recess, councillors decided to postpone the investment decision pending more information from the communities and neighborhoods service in April.