Residents’ development group in ambitious £250,000 plan for Kirkcaldy park

The “founding fathers” of the group, Stephen MacCrimmon and Gary Meldrum had “spent years” talking about how they wanted to return their local park to its glory days. They initially looked for an existing group, but found it difficult to track one down at first. Eventually, they formed the Dunnikier Country Park Development Group.

Stephen explained: “We did try to contact the original Dunnikier development group, because we knew there was a group at the park pre-Covid, but we had no success, and it transpired it had disbanded. We decided at that point ‘lets get our own group started’.”

In just eight months, the group has raised more than £150,000 and is now looking forward to putting the final pieces together that will see phase one of the project begin. It is nearing a key £250,000 target that will allow it to move to those next steps – and according to Stephen, one of the key focuses will be improving on the existing facilities.

He said: “The playpark that’s there just now is not fit for purpose - to be quite frank it’s not really safe. It should probably be condemned, so we want to get a play park in place of what’s there already, but to do that we needed to bring on new members”.

There is a strong focus on replacing those facilities with something that is open to all, with access a huge consideration for the group.

Stephen explained: “The big thing for us is easy access. Kirkcaldy is lucky in that we’ve got a lovely promenade and we’ve got three big parks but they aren’t set up for anybody with mobility issues. Dunnikier is very much going to be about getting access to the park and having equipment that less mobile kids could use. There’s nothing worse than putting in a new park and they’re coming along and they can’t use any of the equipment”.

Once phase one is complete, there will still be work to be done and Gary said that more funding will be needed with the hope that the park can become an interactive experience.

He explained: “We will need a lot more funding going forward because our plans for the park aren't just the play area. We’re looking to look at every area of Dunnikier Park and actually make it a park the public would actually want for all different reasons, not just for kids to play. We’re looking to continue the walkways, looking at getting the walkways QR codes to tell us a bit of information about the park, about the history of the Oswald family.

Members have come on board from across Kirkcaldy, including councillors and Holyrood politicians, and Fife Council has also supported the group through funding and advice.

David Torrance MSP for Kirkcaldy is the chair of the group, having first been invited along by Stephen and Gary to give some advice about how to proceed.

He explained how he got involved: “I play walking football with Stephen and he said ‘I know you were involved with the old Dunnikier Country Park Development Group, would you get involved?’ I said I’d come up and give some advice and help – and ended up chairing it. I’ve been there ever since”.

The project has also won local support through consultations, including those conducted at the Dunnikier Country Park Fayre in May. That support is something that the group has discussed as key to the way it will shape the future of the park.

Mr Torrance said: “Lots of people filled in the survey. It wasn’t just about ‘what do you want to see in the park?’ – it was about ‘why do you use the park?’”

For both Stephen and Gary there is a common theme, and that is bringing the park back to an area that is fondly remembered by families.

Gary said: “I grew up there as a kid and used to go for family days outall the time. Every year, there were so many different things taking place on at Dunnikier Park. My daughter loves going up to Dunnikier. She used to go up and feed the horses when they were up there. When I first took her up she looked at me and sort of said ‘what is this?’ So, being able to take my daughter up to a park where I had so much fun as a kid would be great. Hopefully we’ll be able to get something in place before she’s too big.”

Stephen added: “I think now more than ever where money is tight for a lot of families, to be able to provide a new facility for people to use that doesn’t cost anything and gets them out to nature and gets them using the park, would be fantastic”.