Published: Monday, 10th August, 2009 9:38am

Lochgelly gets £1.75m regeneration boost

by Jim Stark

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Lochgelly has received a £1.75m boost from the Scottish Government as the town's regeneration plans gather pace.

Scottish Government Housing and Communities Minister Alex Neill was in the town on Thursday to announce around £40m of funding for town centre projects throughout Scotland.

He explained that two Fife bids had been successful with £3.75m coming to the Kingdom. Lochgelly received £1.75m for a new business centre in Main Street while Kirkcaldy was given £2m for a mixture of projects to improve the town centre there.

Said Mr Neill, "Town centres are key to our economic and social prosperity, they are the centres of employment and services for local communities.

"Our aim is to turn around the fortunes of town centres and help these reach their full potential and support local economies.

"The Lochgelly project will see a currently derelict area in Main Street near the former Miners Institute turned into a purpose built business centre.

"The centre will have 26 units and will have the capacity for 120 employees. It will give current business in the area looking to expand the perfect site and will provide an attractive base for business wanting to move into the area."

He added, "Over recent years we have seen a decline in our town centres with people moving away.

"This project will be a major boost for the centre of Lochgelly and as the son of a former miner it gives me particular pleasure to be able to come to a former mining community to give this good news."

The successful bid for the project was prepared by HARCA and the organisation's Andrew Saunders was delighted with Mr Neill's announcement.

He said, "This funding is tremendous for Lochgelly, but the challenge is just starting.

"The process to get the right contractor for the project will begin immediately and we hope to see a start on site in November.

"The ultimate aim is to build a business centre which the people of Lochgelly will be proud of and a project which will bring much needed jobs to the town and surrounding area."

Local councillor Ian Chisholm commented, "There has been a decline in the centre of the town over the years but projects such as this one will help continue the regeneration process and it is part of the major plan to transform the town for the 21st century."

His colleague Mark Hood was pleased that the business centre project got the go-ahead but was disappointed that bids for the development of Lochgelly Centre and a project in Cardenden had been unsuccessful at this stage.

He said, "It is encouraging that the business centre has been given the go-ahead and will help the regeneration idea move forward.

"The other bids were also very good and hopefully they may still have a chance to become reality."

Chairman of Lochgelly Community Council Ernie McPherson said, "The town square has been at the centre of regeneration and it has now, I feel, been accepted by the people of the town.

"The business centre project should bring jobs to the area and with the knowledge that the town has been earmarked for 1400 homes over the next 20 years the future of Lochgelly looks bright".

Chair of Fife Council's Environment, Enterprise and Transportation committee, councillor Tony Martin welcomed the news that bids submitted for Kirkcaldy and Lochgelly town centres to the Scottish Government's Town Centre Regeneration Fund had been successful.

He said, "I'm delighted with the announcement. This is fantastic news for Kirkcaldy and Lochgelly.

"Along with Glasgow, Fife has secured the largest allocation of funding. Specific details on how the grants will be spent will follow but what is certain is that this money will help to make significant social, economic and commercial improvements to both towns.

"While we're pleased that Kirkcaldy and Lochgelly have secured funding we recognise that unfortunately other bids have been unsuccessful. There is an opportunity, however, for these bids to be resubmitted in a second round. These applications must be submitted by August 28th and we would encourage everyone to look at resubmitting their application."