Fife Council to consider expanding Willie Clarke Centre

Park manager Andy McGrath agreed with local councillors that the rising popularity of the Meedies, with more than a million visitors last year, is increasing the pressure on existing facilities.

And the Cowdenbeath area committee wants to explore ways to get more money in to expand the visitor centre, which is named after the late former councillor Willie Clarke.

The Willie Clarke Centre at Lochore Meadows. (Image: Fife Council)

Cllr Mary Lockhart said Mr McGrath and his team had made a "tremendous difference" to the Meedies but went on: "This visitor centre, is it still big enough to cope with the vastly increasing numbers and potential that it has?

"You go into the cafe and staff there will say that they could do a lot more than they're able to do but the kitchen isn't big enough for their numbers.

"And if they were able to do more it would be a better range.

"I'm thinking in terms of generating revenue and future use of this facility."

Fife Council allocated £200,000 for further improvements in the country park in February's budget and she continued: "I came down last time we had a really good day and there were people queueing for the loos. There aren't enough and there are no loos outwith here (the centre).

"It's great when we've got events and the toilets are supplemented.

Lochore Meadows Country Park (Image: Newsquest)

"With new things that are attracting people, we'll have the new bike trails and we've got the new playpark, we've got many more children coming now than we used to have. And they need facilities.

"When do we start looking at the ways to get the capital to expand this facility?"

Mr McGrath replied: "It's a valid point and certainly something we've been trying to raise and address.

"To be honest, if you speak to the staff in the park that have been here a long time, including myself, we've seen the changes in terms of the visitor centre and what we've got here is pretty ok, but it is a smaller footprint than the old visitor centre.

"With the increase in visitor numbers and larger events, there's a lot more pressure on this building.

"So we're actively looking at ways in which we can bring in capital to extend both the cafe and the outside setting, increase the kitchen, more toilets - which we're actively looking at for this year, toilets outside that can be open in the busier months and into the evenings - we're looking at the capital investment that we get this year to go towards some of that.

"So yes, I agree that this centre is probably not big enough but it is what we have and we have to work with it as best we can."

Willie Clarke officially opened the centre in April 2018. (Image: Fife Council)

The former councillor and local champion, Willie Clarke, officially opened the new visitor centre and sports pavilion in April 2018.

It was named after him and was part of a £1.8 million investment.

Mr Clarke - who passed away in October 2019 at the age of 84 - had said at the time: "I see this as a new phase and a new opportunity to develop Lochore Meadows and the facilities it offers."

The visitor centre has a café, two educational rooms, an outdoor decking area and public toilets with disabled access and baby changing facilities, as well as information displays on the park itself and its history.

At the area committee Cllr Lea Crowe said: "It's a fantastic area but I don't think it's used to its full potential.

"When it was accepted this was getting done it was with the proviso that it was a modular building that could be expanded more easily than a solid structure."

Cllr Bailey-Lee Robb thanked the park team and added: "I also want to pay tribute to the Benarty Events Group as three of the events in this report, Rockore, the pipe band championships and Benarty Gala, are a roaring success.

"It's a group that, even beyond these events, does some fantastic things."

He added: "We really need a masterplan for the Meedies, beyond five years, and to get all the stakeholders properly round the table to discuss it."