Six options on table for community use sports facilities in Fife town

Fife Council’s Cabinet Committee got a sneak peak at the six options on the table for the future of the facilities on Thursday. They range from retention and complete refurbishment of Inverkeithing High School’s community facility wing to the relocation of the swimming pool at the new replacement high sSchool campus in Rosyth’s Fleet Grounds. Other options include the construction of a new pool with community facilities at the existing site or the construction of community facilities without a pool within Inverkeithing.

Cabinet Committee councillors won’t be asked to choose one option over another until this Autumn, but they did choose to keep all six options - including the option of relocation - on the table for consideration, but not everyone was happy. Dalgety Bay Councillor David Barratt (SNP) said emotions were running high.

“The community expected to see a report that addressed the need to invest in the existing site and address the impacts of the loss of the high school to Inverkeithing,” Cllr Barratt began. “[It’s disappointing] to see one of options being to build a further facility outwith Inverkeithing which would inevitably lead to closure of the existing swim facilities.”

He continued: “To put it mildly, there has been anger in the community about this. The community fundamentally has no faith in the council on this and I would like us to support [the elimination of this option] and prove them wrong.”

Cllr Barratt’s proposal calling for that option to be removed was defeated 13-9 and the full six options kept on the table for future consideration.

“I think this is the right way forward to give consideration to the issue of community use and swim provision for the whole of South West Fife,” Council Leader David Ross (Labour) said. He said the full list of options will look at the whole area - not just Inverkeithing. “It’s absolutely important that we do our due diligence on this because we are talking about an investment of potentially £20 million. We have to have the right information to allow us to do due diligence on a project of this scale.”

Councillor James Calder (Lib-Dem for Dunfermline South) agreed. “Fundamentally, the most important thing from my perspective is that we’re doing everything possible to ensure we don’t lose another pool facility in South West Fife,” he said.

“I would like to keep our options as wide as possible right now so we can make a fully considered decision. The most important factor is keeping our options open so we can make a fully informed decision in the near future.”

Cllr Barratt maintains that keeping the relocation option open “erodes previous commitments” presuming favour of investment in the existing site, and he said it opens the door to “yet more facilities being lost to Inverkeithing.”

However, the final decision will likely be made this Autumn. Until then, Cllr Barratt said “the fight is on.”