FUNDING for a new health centre in Kincardine is not likely until the second half of the decade, the Scottish Government has confirmed.

Plans for a new £7.8m Community Health and Wellbeing centre in the village – as well as one in Lochgelly – have been underway for several years and a planning application for the facility was submitted to Fife Council earlier this year.

However health bosses were delivered a blow last week when Marie Todd MSP, Minister for Public Health, Women's Health and Sport, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to replacing the centres but said resources will likely be provided in the "second half" of this decade.

She stated: "Our planning assumption is that the phasing of the funding is likely to be in the second half of the decade and NHS Fife will align the update of the business case to that expected timeline."

NHS Fife’s Director of Public Health, Dr Joy Tomlinson, said they remained committed to delivering the two new community health and wellbeing centres and are working with the Scottish Government to secure funding for the project.

“This important project will enable us to bring together a range of health and wellbeing services – from GP practices and social care to community and voluntary services. This will allow us to deliver healthcare services with an emphasis on wellbeing and prevention in the heart of these communities," she said.

“Work is already underway to prepare the full business case, however, as stated last week in Parliament, we have been advised that Scottish Government is adopting a phased approach to capital expenditure.

“We have been advised, therefore, that funding is unlikely to be released for the Lochgelly and Kincardine projects within the initially anticipated timescales and we remain in dialogue with the Scottish Government to clarify the project funding timeframe.”

Local Labour councillor Graeme Downie said the funding delay could mean another 15 to 20 year wait for a new health centre in Kincardine.

He has now written to Health Secretary Humza Yousaf MSP asking him to visit the village to explain his decision to the community.

“I will be speaking to people in the local community about how this decision will impact them," he said. "Kincardine has an SNP MP and an SNP MSP and I hope they will join me and the community in a campaign to reverse this decision by the Scottish Government and get Kincardine the GP surgery it was promised.”

An Initial Agreement Document (IAD) for the replacement of the existing centres was approved by Scottish Government in January 2020, with outline business cases submitted in June 2022, for consideration by the Scottish government’s Capital Investment Group.

Following assessment, additional detail was sought which was subsequently provided by NHS Fife who have now been asked to re-submit the outline business cases by April with additional detail incorporated.

NHS Fife want to create a health and wellbeing centre along with a car park and associated landscaping on green space west of Feregait, close to Tulliallan Primary School.

It first announced its plans to replace the village's existing health centre in 2016 after stating that the building had "reached the end of its economic life as a clinical facility".

The former police station was built in the 1930s and had been modified considerably throughout its lifetime, now sitting at three times its original size.

In a planning statement, NHS Fife said their vision was to create a new Community Health and Wellbeing Centre for Kincardine that would allow services to be "brought back towards the community" while looking to optimise flexibility within the building and accommodate potential future expansion.

Last year, the Press reported that estimates for the facility had risen from the original cost of £4.65 million to £7.8m due to a "perfect storm" of pressures including the coronavirus pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine and Brexit.