A DUNFERMLINE church is seeking permission to turn a Halbeath office space into a place of worship. 

Robert Christie, of the Dunfermline United Reformed Church, has submitted an application to Fife Council that would see their small and ageing congregation meet out of the ground floor unit in the Halbeath Interchange Business Park on Kingseat Road. 

In a supporting statement to the Council, the applicant explained: "As with many churches, the numbers attending services has been declining and the congregation has been ageing over the past few years.

"This resulted in a building that was too large for their requirements and presented significant difficulties in providing accessible entry and exit. Along with the responsibility and cost of maintaining a Grade 2 listed building, this led to the decision to sell the Church building on Canmore Street in August 2022 and seek alternative premises.

"Many attempts were made to find alternative accommodation with a view to leasing suitable premises. After reviewing the limited properties available a possibility arose to lease of the ground floor of the premises in this application and a pre-application for change of use was originally made in January 2023.

"This lease agreement did not conclude, and they have since been searching for other suitable premises without success.

"Meanwhile, the Church has been meeting in Dunfermline High School and occasionally in Crossford Village Hall. Neither of which are suitable in the longer term."

The plans submitted would see only the ground floor of the premises change permission, with the upper floor remaining as an office space that will be rented out by the church. 

If approved, the unit would be used for Sunday morning worship, Saturday morning choir practice and occasional evening meetings for smaller groups.

The church will not be holding larger services such as weddings and funerals in this location as other church premises will be available for them to use.

They also noted that existing allocated and visitor parking spaces would provide sufficient parking for the church.