Fife’s plan for care home village costs rocket by more than £4m in two years

Regardless, Fife’s Cabinet Committee approved the revised timescales and rubber stamped the latest cost increases on Thursday morning.

The council has long discussed Cupar Care Village to replace the town’s ageing Northeden House care home.

The village will be built on the site of the Dalgairn Centre on Cupar’s Bank Street and it will include a 24-bed care home, 12 supported living flats for independent living, and community support accommodation.

It is not the first time that costs for the now £14.106 million project have increased. When councillors originally agreed on the budget and business case in February 2021, they were told it would cost £9.8 million to complete. In 2022, further funding was approved by Fife’s Policy and Co-ordination Committee resulting in a budget of £11.979 million. On Thursday, that jumped by an extra £2.137 million.

“As you know, we have had a programme of replacement for care homes in Fife,” the committee was told. “We have just completed the Methil Care Village and we’re not moving on to Cupar. We have had to look at the costings as they have gone up since our initial budget.”

Committee members were not surprised by the rise. In fact, the increased costs for the care home were already included within Fife’s Capital Plan Review - which was approved in June.

“We’ve included the care home costs in the capital programme anyway so we were aware that was coming,” Council Leader David Ross said.

The main reasons for the increased costs are construction cost increases; price rises of fuel, energies and raw materials; and the widely reported UK construction market turbulence.

The Cupar Care Village is not the only care home replacement project in the pipeline for the local authority.

Councillor Fiona Corps (Lib-Dem for East Neuk and Landward) questioned whether the increased costs at Cupar would have a knock on effect on the proposed Anstruther care home.

Cllr Ross replied: “From a political view, no. Finance might have a different view on where we’ll find the money, but I think there’s a will to do it.”

Following Cabinet Committee approval on Thursday, full construction at Cupar will start in February 2024. It will likely be completed in August 2025