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May 2020 Keithing article
Since our last Keithing update, the Inverkeithing Trust’s activities have also been affected by the Covid-19 impact and restrictions.
Despite the crazy, scary times we all find ourselves in, we’ll try to move forward where we can.
And thanks to Fife Council’s Communities team, we have some funding in place to help us do this.
The projects our Trust wants to progress are all linked to the objectives in the Neighbourhood Plan for Inverkeithing, brought together by Fife Council in 2019 after extensive consultations with local groups and residents. We thought this was a good time to give you a wee reminder of those proposed projects – so here they are:
Community noticeboard
A design is being worked up for a temporary board on the Post Office corner.
We’ll be asking for your comments on this soon, so keep an eye on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/inverkeithingtrust
Old school site, Roods Road
In partnership with the Vivarium Trust, we’re trying to find a way to bring the site back into community ownership and use.
Many difficult challenges and obstacles to be overcome, but we’ll keep working to explore every possible avenue before we have to think about giving up on our unique vision for this important site.
Whinneyhill green space improvement
Create biodiversity through planting along strip of grassed area behind Hope Street at bottom of hill – whilst ensuring residents’ amazing views aren’t blocked!
Coastal path improvements - With Fife Council and Sustrans etc, we’ll be working to improve the Inverkeithing section.
Friary Gardens play park
Creating a new park that takes account of the site’s heritage in a fun, innovative design.
Additional projects:
Green spaces (greening of other overlooked/unused/neglected spaces around the town).
Community-based creative projects for all ages and abilities – for example: community choir, making space for young people.
Assisting other community groups with their own projects where and when possible.
We’ll be asking for your thoughts and opinions on all of our projects and our aim is to complete some and make good progress on others over the next 12 to 24 months.
Our new website is also up and running – you’ll find us on:
www.inverkeithingtrust.co.uk
It’s a project in itself and is still being developed – so we’d be really happy to get your comments on how it looks and your suggestions on what we could do to make it better.
We’re very much in the early growing stages as an organisation and need new members and volunteers to join us.
Membership of the Inverkeithing Trust is open to anyone 16 years of age and over, who lives in the Inverkeithing Community Council area. There’s no cost and we’d welcome as little or as much of your time as you’d like to give. Please contact us on: [email protected] if you’d like to know more.
The Keithing March 2020
Inverkeithing Trust update
We have a new name! – out with Inverkeithing Community Development Group and in with the much simpler Inverkeithing Trust – and our website will be ready soon, where you’ll see our fabulous new logo.
In March, we’re launching our membership campaign. Hopefully, lots of you will want to join the Trust – there’s no cost and it won’t mean sitting in meetings – unless that’s something you really want to do!
We are also applying for charitable status which would give us access to funding for more community projects.
Since December, our efforts have concentrated on the old Primary School – the ‘Phoenix Project’. The feasibility study to produce a business plan is almost complete. We hope this will show the project’s viability, so that we can then apply to the Scottish Land Fund for funding to purchase the site.
Our partnership with The Vivarium Trust is working well and the Phoenix Project public consultation will launch in March in the Civic Centre.
Here’s a wee reminder of our vision for the old School site:
Vivarium Trust plan is to transform the main school building into innovative cohousing flats for over 50s:
a group of potential residents has formed and is involved in the design/management/funding options;
high level support for project from Age Scotland, NHS Scotland, NHS Fife and others;
Inverkeithing Trust plans are to transform the older H-block building into:
artists’ studios;
community workshop/‘fablab’;
flexible space for events;
kitchen/toilets; and
community use of playground for all ages and abilities - with:
quality green space;
an accessible route through the site connecting residents in surrounding streets and beyond to the High Street;
inter-generational play space – something different;
amphitheatre and quiet space.
See glimpse below of what could be:
IMAGE TO BE INSERTED HERE
This vision is not a ‘done deal’ by any means – there are lots of challenges still to overcome, not least successful funding bids and negotiations with the site owners.
To date the project has been well supported by Inverkeithing people and your continuing support is essential - the site is so important to our town’s heritage.
Please come along to the public consultation event in the Civic in March for more details and the next steps.
The Community Noticeboard is Inverkeithing Trust’s other main project. There have been a few setbacks since December, including efforts to acquire the old BT phone box in the High Street and repurpose it as a noticeboard. Unfortunately, that proved impossible due to BT restrictions on what the box could be used for.
However, as we’re part of Fife Council’s working group on the town centre regeneration (CARS), we’ve been invited to put forward a design for a permanent noticeboard to fit in with the town centre plans.
In the meantime, Fife Council have offered a possible solution for a temporary noticeboard in the High Street and we hope this will be in place by April.
Finally, we would like to thank everyone who has given help and support to our fledgling group over the past year. You’re doing a grand job and it’s a pleasure working with you!
The Keithing Nov 2019
Phoenix Project Update
The Phoenix Project to redevelop the derelict Primary School site has made good progress in the last couple of months, through the partnership between the Inverkeithing Community Development Group and The Vivarium Trust (see also the ICDG update article in this edition).
The site was recently surveyed by a specialist Structural Engineer using drones. The engineer, who also advised on the fire-damaged Glasgow College of Art, confirmed that the fire-damaged building does not have to be demolished and can be adapted to a new use. Detailed technical work is now ongoing.
Architects and Landscape architects have been busy developing design options for how the site could be redeveloped, looking at what would most benefit residents of Inverkeithing. There has been a focus on health and wellbeing, reflected in support for the study from NHS Scotland.
Health and wellbeing connects with many aspects of the life of the town. It includes accessibility, where the project will create a new public route through the site for people of all abilities. Greenspace is another key area where the project can contribute space for people’s play alongside urban biodiversity, enhancing physical and mental health.
The creation of cohousing for people over 50 remains an important part of the project, and a group of potential residents met for the first time last week. The plans for the school will create around 24 flats for people to live independently as part of a neighbourly community with some shared facilities. The resident group are mostly local people looking for better future housing options and anyone interesting in considering this should contact us for more information by emailing [email protected]
We were disturbed by the submission of new Planning and Listed Building Consent applications to demolish the listed buildings and build speculative housing. There were many objections submitted before the deadline of 28 November. We hope the planning system will reflect the need for a better community future for the site to be given a chance, by rejecting these applications.
The Feasibility Study for the Phoenix Project aims to complete by the end of January and there will be a public presentation of it in the New Year.
Keithing Dec 2nd 2019
Old Primary School
In September’s Keithing, we told you that ICDG had received around £20,000 from the Scottish Land Fund for a feasibility study to look at community use options for the old Primary School site. This runs in parallel with Vivarium’s study for cohousing on the site (see also ‘Phoenix project’ article in this edition), which received £18,000 of public monies from Fife Council and the Architectural Heritage Fund.
The study is progressing well and our consultants (Urban Pioneers and SKS Scotland) have produced a draft landscaping design and a business plan, which are being further worked up before they’re presented to the community for comment. The community use proposals for the site include:
learning spaces for all ages including artists’ studios/men’s shed activities;
green and bio-diverse spaces including play space for all ages, which will enhance the green network/infrastructure currently being planned for the town centre;
community café/visitor centre/toilets and cinema/venue space;
tourist attraction.
carbon positive development of the site;
It’s been an eventful couple of months though, with the news that the site owners, Andrail Ltd, had applied for Listed Building Consent to demolish these landmark buildings and had registered a new planning application to build 28 houses in their place of the type the town doesn’t need.
ICDG and Vivarium comments on why this shouldn’t happen were published in the Dunfermline Press on 18 October and ICDG members took to the High Street to encourage townsfolk to make their voices heard and get their objections in before the deadline dates.
19/10/19 – High Street, Inverkeithing : Campaign against demolition of old Primary School buildings
It’s so very important for us to try to keep every square foot of what’s left of our town’s heritage and, in this case, bring together a community vision for our old primary school buildings and playground.
The deadline for objections to the planning application was 28 November and we truly hope that Fife planning officials and elected members will recognise what the community is trying to achieve and will refuse Andrail’s applications.
Meantime our feasibility study continues full steam ahead and will be completed by end January 2020, with community consultation on the proposals before then.
The study will produce a viable business plan which will then be submitted to the Scottish Land Fund in March for funding to bring the old school site into community ownership where it belongs.
Community noticeboard
ICDG are currently in discussions with Fife Council and it’s hoped to have a temporary High Street community noticeboard in place as soon as possible, until a permanent board is achieved as part of the town centre regeneration works starting in 2021.
ICDG transition to formal legal entity
In order to access certain funding (specifically Scottish Land Fund Phase 2 funding for the old Primary School site), ICDG is required to be more than a constituted group – it would need to be a legally recognised body. Douglas Westwater and his team at Community Enterprise are guiding ICDG through the process of analysing the path we should take in order to ensure the best possible future for Inverkeithing. The outcome will be that the group takes on a new legal form and structure, and possibly a new name, in due course (likely by March 2020).
Thereafter, the intention is that the group will have access to the widest available number of funding sources and is managed in a way that is truly representative of the needs of the town.
Keithing issue July 2019
Old Primary School Site – Feasibility Study for Community Use Gets the Go Ahead
The Inverkeithing Community Development Group (ICDG) submitted an application in July to the Scottish Land Fund for a grant to fund a study looking at community use options for the site, to run in tandem with Vivarium’s feasibility study for cohousing on the site (as reported in this edition).
The brilliant news is that on Wednesday 7 August we were advised that our application has been successful and the community use study will start in September this year, finishing at the end of January 2020.
Two consultants have been appointed following a tendering exercise – SKS Scotland as business consultant and Urban Pioneers as landscape consultant. They will be working with ICDG and Vivarium to bring together a viable plan for the whole site.
The study will involve engaging and consulting with townsfolk, as well as drawing on the suggestions put forward by the community in previous consultations last year.
If the feasibility study results in a sustainable business plan for community use then we will go back with this to the Scottish Land Fund for stage 2 funding to try to purchase the site through negotiation with the current owners.
The above, along with the conservation area improvements, make it such an exciting time for Inverkeithing – a window of opportunity – and we will need the whole town to come together to make it work.
ICDG will keep you updated on progress through social media (more on this shortly), as well as in ‘The Keithing’ and via a new community notice board that will be appearing in the High Street soon.to edit.
May 2020 Keithing article
Since our last Keithing update, the Inverkeithing Trust’s activities have also been affected by the Covid-19 impact and restrictions.
Despite the crazy, scary times we all find ourselves in, we’ll try to move forward where we can.
And thanks to Fife Council’s Communities team, we have some funding in place to help us do this.
The projects our Trust wants to progress are all linked to the objectives in the Neighbourhood Plan for Inverkeithing, brought together by Fife Council in 2019 after extensive consultations with local groups and residents. We thought this was a good time to give you a wee reminder of those proposed projects – so here they are:
Community noticeboard
A design is being worked up for a temporary board on the Post Office corner.
We’ll be asking for your comments on this soon, so keep an eye on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/inverkeithingtrust
Old school site, Roods Road
In partnership with the Vivarium Trust, we’re trying to find a way to bring the site back into community ownership and use.
Many difficult challenges and obstacles to be overcome, but we’ll keep working to explore every possible avenue before we have to think about giving up on our unique vision for this important site.
Whinneyhill green space improvement
Create biodiversity through planting along strip of grassed area behind Hope Street at bottom of hill – whilst ensuring residents’ amazing views aren’t blocked!
Coastal path improvements - With Fife Council and Sustrans etc, we’ll be working to improve the Inverkeithing section.
Friary Gardens play park
Creating a new park that takes account of the site’s heritage in a fun, innovative design.
Additional projects:
Green spaces (greening of other overlooked/unused/neglected spaces around the town).
Community-based creative projects for all ages and abilities – for example: community choir, making space for young people.
Assisting other community groups with their own projects where and when possible.
We’ll be asking for your thoughts and opinions on all of our projects and our aim is to complete some and make good progress on others over the next 12 to 24 months.
Our new website is also up and running – you’ll find us on:
www.inverkeithingtrust.co.uk
It’s a project in itself and is still being developed – so we’d be really happy to get your comments on how it looks and your suggestions on what we could do to make it better.
We’re very much in the early growing stages as an organisation and need new members and volunteers to join us.
Membership of the Inverkeithing Trust is open to anyone 16 years of age and over, who lives in the Inverkeithing Community Council area. There’s no cost and we’d welcome as little or as much of your time as you’d like to give. Please contact us on: [email protected] if you’d like to know more.
The Keithing March 2020
Inverkeithing Trust update
We have a new name! – out with Inverkeithing Community Development Group and in with the much simpler Inverkeithing Trust – and our website will be ready soon, where you’ll see our fabulous new logo.
In March, we’re launching our membership campaign. Hopefully, lots of you will want to join the Trust – there’s no cost and it won’t mean sitting in meetings – unless that’s something you really want to do!
We are also applying for charitable status which would give us access to funding for more community projects.
Since December, our efforts have concentrated on the old Primary School – the ‘Phoenix Project’. The feasibility study to produce a business plan is almost complete. We hope this will show the project’s viability, so that we can then apply to the Scottish Land Fund for funding to purchase the site.
Our partnership with The Vivarium Trust is working well and the Phoenix Project public consultation will launch in March in the Civic Centre.
Here’s a wee reminder of our vision for the old School site:
Vivarium Trust plan is to transform the main school building into innovative cohousing flats for over 50s:
a group of potential residents has formed and is involved in the design/management/funding options;
high level support for project from Age Scotland, NHS Scotland, NHS Fife and others;
Inverkeithing Trust plans are to transform the older H-block building into:
artists’ studios;
community workshop/‘fablab’;
flexible space for events;
kitchen/toilets; and
community use of playground for all ages and abilities - with:
quality green space;
an accessible route through the site connecting residents in surrounding streets and beyond to the High Street;
inter-generational play space – something different;
amphitheatre and quiet space.
See glimpse below of what could be:
IMAGE TO BE INSERTED HERE
This vision is not a ‘done deal’ by any means – there are lots of challenges still to overcome, not least successful funding bids and negotiations with the site owners.
To date the project has been well supported by Inverkeithing people and your continuing support is essential - the site is so important to our town’s heritage.
Please come along to the public consultation event in the Civic in March for more details and the next steps.
The Community Noticeboard is Inverkeithing Trust’s other main project. There have been a few setbacks since December, including efforts to acquire the old BT phone box in the High Street and repurpose it as a noticeboard. Unfortunately, that proved impossible due to BT restrictions on what the box could be used for.
However, as we’re part of Fife Council’s working group on the town centre regeneration (CARS), we’ve been invited to put forward a design for a permanent noticeboard to fit in with the town centre plans.
In the meantime, Fife Council have offered a possible solution for a temporary noticeboard in the High Street and we hope this will be in place by April.
Finally, we would like to thank everyone who has given help and support to our fledgling group over the past year. You’re doing a grand job and it’s a pleasure working with you!
The Keithing Nov 2019
Phoenix Project Update
The Phoenix Project to redevelop the derelict Primary School site has made good progress in the last couple of months, through the partnership between the Inverkeithing Community Development Group and The Vivarium Trust (see also the ICDG update article in this edition).
The site was recently surveyed by a specialist Structural Engineer using drones. The engineer, who also advised on the fire-damaged Glasgow College of Art, confirmed that the fire-damaged building does not have to be demolished and can be adapted to a new use. Detailed technical work is now ongoing.
Architects and Landscape architects have been busy developing design options for how the site could be redeveloped, looking at what would most benefit residents of Inverkeithing. There has been a focus on health and wellbeing, reflected in support for the study from NHS Scotland.
Health and wellbeing connects with many aspects of the life of the town. It includes accessibility, where the project will create a new public route through the site for people of all abilities. Greenspace is another key area where the project can contribute space for people’s play alongside urban biodiversity, enhancing physical and mental health.
The creation of cohousing for people over 50 remains an important part of the project, and a group of potential residents met for the first time last week. The plans for the school will create around 24 flats for people to live independently as part of a neighbourly community with some shared facilities. The resident group are mostly local people looking for better future housing options and anyone interesting in considering this should contact us for more information by emailing [email protected]
We were disturbed by the submission of new Planning and Listed Building Consent applications to demolish the listed buildings and build speculative housing. There were many objections submitted before the deadline of 28 November. We hope the planning system will reflect the need for a better community future for the site to be given a chance, by rejecting these applications.
The Feasibility Study for the Phoenix Project aims to complete by the end of January and there will be a public presentation of it in the New Year.
Keithing Dec 2nd 2019
Old Primary School
In September’s Keithing, we told you that ICDG had received around £20,000 from the Scottish Land Fund for a feasibility study to look at community use options for the old Primary School site. This runs in parallel with Vivarium’s study for cohousing on the site (see also ‘Phoenix project’ article in this edition), which received £18,000 of public monies from Fife Council and the Architectural Heritage Fund.
The study is progressing well and our consultants (Urban Pioneers and SKS Scotland) have produced a draft landscaping design and a business plan, which are being further worked up before they’re presented to the community for comment. The community use proposals for the site include:
learning spaces for all ages including artists’ studios/men’s shed activities;
green and bio-diverse spaces including play space for all ages, which will enhance the green network/infrastructure currently being planned for the town centre;
community café/visitor centre/toilets and cinema/venue space;
tourist attraction.
carbon positive development of the site;
It’s been an eventful couple of months though, with the news that the site owners, Andrail Ltd, had applied for Listed Building Consent to demolish these landmark buildings and had registered a new planning application to build 28 houses in their place of the type the town doesn’t need.
ICDG and Vivarium comments on why this shouldn’t happen were published in the Dunfermline Press on 18 October and ICDG members took to the High Street to encourage townsfolk to make their voices heard and get their objections in before the deadline dates.
19/10/19 – High Street, Inverkeithing : Campaign against demolition of old Primary School buildings
It’s so very important for us to try to keep every square foot of what’s left of our town’s heritage and, in this case, bring together a community vision for our old primary school buildings and playground.
The deadline for objections to the planning application was 28 November and we truly hope that Fife planning officials and elected members will recognise what the community is trying to achieve and will refuse Andrail’s applications.
Meantime our feasibility study continues full steam ahead and will be completed by end January 2020, with community consultation on the proposals before then.
The study will produce a viable business plan which will then be submitted to the Scottish Land Fund in March for funding to bring the old school site into community ownership where it belongs.
Community noticeboard
ICDG are currently in discussions with Fife Council and it’s hoped to have a temporary High Street community noticeboard in place as soon as possible, until a permanent board is achieved as part of the town centre regeneration works starting in 2021.
ICDG transition to formal legal entity
In order to access certain funding (specifically Scottish Land Fund Phase 2 funding for the old Primary School site), ICDG is required to be more than a constituted group – it would need to be a legally recognised body. Douglas Westwater and his team at Community Enterprise are guiding ICDG through the process of analysing the path we should take in order to ensure the best possible future for Inverkeithing. The outcome will be that the group takes on a new legal form and structure, and possibly a new name, in due course (likely by March 2020).
Thereafter, the intention is that the group will have access to the widest available number of funding sources and is managed in a way that is truly representative of the needs of the town.
Keithing issue July 2019
Old Primary School Site – Feasibility Study for Community Use Gets the Go Ahead
The Inverkeithing Community Development Group (ICDG) submitted an application in July to the Scottish Land Fund for a grant to fund a study looking at community use options for the site, to run in tandem with Vivarium’s feasibility study for cohousing on the site (as reported in this edition).
The brilliant news is that on Wednesday 7 August we were advised that our application has been successful and the community use study will start in September this year, finishing at the end of January 2020.
Two consultants have been appointed following a tendering exercise – SKS Scotland as business consultant and Urban Pioneers as landscape consultant. They will be working with ICDG and Vivarium to bring together a viable plan for the whole site.
The study will involve engaging and consulting with townsfolk, as well as drawing on the suggestions put forward by the community in previous consultations last year.
If the feasibility study results in a sustainable business plan for community use then we will go back with this to the Scottish Land Fund for stage 2 funding to try to purchase the site through negotiation with the current owners.
The above, along with the conservation area improvements, make it such an exciting time for Inverkeithing – a window of opportunity – and we will need the whole town to come together to make it work.
ICDG will keep you updated on progress through social media (more on this shortly), as well as in ‘The Keithing’ and via a new community notice board that will be appearing in the High Street soon.to edit.