MORE than £700,000 from Dunfermline's community recovery fund money will be spent on 11 projects.

That will include £197,000 to set up a greenspace charity, £150,000 for a city status conference and £100,000 for a new advice hub in the Kingsgate Shopping Centre.

Councillors on the City of Dunfermline area committee agreed to the spend last week.

Convener James Calder explained: “The community recovery fund is helping communities recover from the pandemic and cope with the rapid rise in the cost of living.

"Through the fund we’re investing in projects, community groups and organisations that are helping Dunfermline recover and thrive.

"These projects will have a transformative impact on Dunfermline."

Last August, the council set up a £10 million community recovery fund and each of the seven area committees was given an allocation to spend on local projects and priorities.

Dunfermline's share was £1.24m, to be spent over two years.

A workshop was held in the Dell Farquharson Centre in February where groups, charities, social enterprises and voluntary organisations from across the city gathered to discuss how the money would be best spent.

The biggest allocation is the £197,000 for the establishment of a Dunfermline Greenspace SCIO, with most of the costs to go on staffing, office space, marketing and projects.

The £150,000 allocation to develop Dunfermline's city status will include the conference on Tuesday June 27 but also cover the broader aims of "setting out a vision" for Dunfermline, adding key resources to make a new city plan happen and deliver a "high quality, footfall generating" events strategy for the year.

The £100,000 for the new hub in the Kingsgate will be in a "very visible" spot in the shopping centre and bring together a number of services and charities under one roof.

As well as those projects, Fife Sports and Leisure Trust will be given £86,900 for a two-year health and wellbeing co-ordinator post, this also covers purchase of equipment, with the aim of developing a mix of physical activity and social activities across multiple venues around Dunfermline.

Dunfermline Regeneration Trust will receive £50,000 towards the total £276,000 cost of replacing the skate park in Public Park.

The current facility, while very popular and well used, is now 24-years-old, reaching the end of its life span and "becoming unsafe".

The council's Lindsay Gilfillan added that the skate park has been vandalised and become a hot spot for anti-social behaviour.

The Link Church will be given £43,298 to create two posts to support their anti-poverty work, while Cruise Forth Destination Dunfermline applied for £38,000 over two years to extend awareness of the city's tourism offerings "at all ports where cruise ships will dock" this year and next.

Dunfermline and West Fife Local Tourist Association was given £30,000 to develop Dunfermline.com as a visitor destination website and £15,000 has been set aside to commission consultants to produce an overview of the city's tourism provision.

There's also £12,858 to buy equipment such as soft play items and inflatables, to be used at various community-use facilities, and £11,543 to purchase equipment and furniture for a new community hub in Duloch Park.

The allocation leaves around £500,000 in the pot to spend on other projects.