Fife Council can't get any answers on Levelling Up promise

Councillor Derek Glen asked Fife Council leader David Ross for an update at a full council meeting last week but it's still not clear if the UK Government will stump up the cash that was pledged before the Tories lost power in July.

“We have been making approaches to the government both through informal means but also as an issue that has been raised and taken up by COSLA,” Cllr Ross said.

“I won’t comment on the previous government’s handling of the levelling up fund other than to say it left much to be desired and there is a clearing up of the mess to be gone on.”

Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in March that Dunfermline was getting £5m they hadn't applied for from the UK Government's Levelling Up fund.

In May councillors agreed to spend £5m on four projects: "new cultural spaces" at St Margaret's House and Tower House; restoring the B-listed Fire Station Creative building; and creating a new amphitheatre at Dunfermline Learning Campus for outdoor performances by schools and the college.

Earlier this month Scottish Secretary Ian Murray admitted that the fund was “under review” and that many of the funding promises by the last prime minister “didn't have any cash attached". 

Dunfermline Central SNP councillor Derek Glen. (Image: Fife Council)

The Labour MP for Dunfermline and Dollar, Graeme Downie, had told the Press: "It literally wasn't worth the paper the press release was written on." 

At the council meeting, Cllr Glen asked Cllr Ross to “write with some urgency” to the UK exchequer to get some answers.

“I think there’s just a massive frustration that there isn’t any answer forthcoming,” Cllr Glen said after the meeting.

“We’ve asked local officers, we’ve asked the employability team at Fife Council, now clearly it’s been raised here at full council."

"Graeme Downie has asked his new colleagues at parliament as well, but none of them are prepared to answer.” 

Thanks to the “very tight time constraints” issued by the previous UK Government, Cllr Glen said all four projects were due to begin in less than two weeks time. 

“As it stood, there was a need for projects to basically begin doing stuff from October in terms of going out to tender and drawing up plans for construction,” he said. 

“So if there’s going to be a delay in confirming the money, there also needs to be some reassurance that there’s going to be an extended timeframe to work on these projects.” 

He added: “I think the concern is that that money is going to be whipped away but it’s the [timeline right now] that’s the massive frustration.” 

Dunfermline MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville had highlighted the problem, warning that the "potential loss of millions of pounds in funding for Dunfermline is hugely concerning".

The money was promised to Dunfermline by the former Conservative government at Westminster. The cash boost was awarded to the city through the UK’s Levelling Up fund, which aimed to help regenerate town and city centres and high streets.

At the time, Dunfermline was told it only had until March 2026 to use or lose the funds.

“Fife Council have already put funding into preparing projects for the funding, and the longer it goes on, the more officer time is being sunk into it and the more time is being wasted in potentially being able to find other ways of delivering the projects,” Cllr Glen said. 

“We’re missing a trick if we’re going to need to find alternative funding.” 

Mr Murray had said an announcement on the levelling up funding will be made in next month's budget statement, adding: "Everything is under review, yes, because a lot of the stuff that was promised didn't have any cash attached to it.”