Tory councillor urges Fife Council to apply to levelling up fund

The first round of the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund supported £1.7 billion of projects in over 100 local areas across all corners of the UK, delivering over £170 million of funding in Scotland, £120 million in Wales, and £49 million in Northern Ireland.

Fife Council was one of several authorities that felt unable to submit a bid in the first round as projects were not sufficiently developed, but bids for the second round must be submitted by noon on July 6.

With three of the region’s applications relating to the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath parliamentary constituency, Councillor Kathleen Leslie, who represents the Burntisland, Kinghorn and West Kirkcaldy council ward, is keen to see the area benefit.

“One of the advantages of this funding is that it bypasses the SNP administration at Holyrood and, instead, local communities will directly benefit,” Ms Leslie noted.

“The Fund works on UK Parliamentary constituencies and in the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath Constituency three projects have been proposed.

“An upgrade to the Burgh Chambers in Burntisland, which I very much support as it is long overdue, and also the Town House in Cowdenbeath and the Templehall Community Centre.

“These are all fantastic projects but I have been annoyed at what appears to be a lacking spirit of local democracy and transparency by the Fife Council administration.

“Last October, councillors were essentially presented with a fait accompli on what the proposed bids would be.

“I would like to have seen a much wider consultation process for this Fund with the public.

“Accountability and transparency are what the public should have when it comes to funding of projects and services in their area.”

Five separate bids in total will be submitted from Fife Council, including the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath projects.

Town centre regeneration also underpins a bid for the Glenrothes area, which hopes to get cash towards the town’s Riverside Park, along with Levenmouth active travel networks and the River Leven riverside path network.

A North East Fife bid will major on cultural regeneration, with projects including Sustainable Silverburn in Leven, the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther and the Forgan Arts Centre in Newport-on-Tay in the running, while the fifth and final bid focuses on transport improvements, such as Den Burn Bridge repairs in Cardenden, the A955 Bawbee and Leven Rail Bridge repairs in Leven; and the A907 Lyne Burn Bridge/Culvert replacement/Grange Road Link Road Bridge/Kingseat (Whitefield) bridge expansion in Dunfermline.

“Investment proposals should focus on priority areas and impact projects so I am hoping that Fife Council, who will deliver the project, will be submitting a strongly evidenced based bid as I do not want the people of Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath to miss out on this excellent funding opportunity from the UK Government.”

Just eight projects across Scotland shared in over £170m from round one, which means the bidding process will be hugely competitive.