The Community Recovery Fund has been allocated for the City of Dunfermline Area to help to support groups, charities, social enterprises and voluntary organisations who worked through and would benefit from support following the Covid pandemic.

The workshop was to gather ideas, but also to encourage collaboration and partnership working in order to maximise funding.

The workshop was very well attended with a fantastic range of project ideas shared and discussed. Consideration was given how each might contribute to the needs of the city and its communities. Local Community Planning Partnership groups, such as the Poverty Action Groups or the Greenspace Forum also put forward ideas for the fund. Proposals have already been sought from various stakeholders, including external partners, voluntary organisations, community groups and council services.

The key criteria for the use of the fund include links with the Plan 4 Fife and the Local Community Plan (LCP). Work has already taken place to identify priorities and actions for the LCP.

All the ideas will be considered before recommendations are submitted to the City of Dunfermline Area Committee for consideration and approval.

Convener of the committee, Councillor James Calder, commented: “I was delighted that the City of Dunfermline received £1.2m of recovery funding, but I also know that it is really important that the wider community is involved in deciding how we spend it.

“The workshop we held with Community organisations from across the City was extremely successful and it not only allowed us a forum to discuss ideas, but also gave the organisations a chance to meet and perhaps collaborate on them.

“I was particularly excited to hear about some great ideas for supporting our local environment, tackling poverty and growing our local economy.

“The process is ongoing and we still want to hear about more ideas. This will be an investment in Dunfermline’s future so I am keen that any community group who is interested either get in touch with the local team or myself as Area Convener.”

The fund is available over the next two years and does not need to be fully committed at this time. A further allocation of £1m will also be available for proposals that cover several areas or would support Fife-wide activity.

Successful applicants will be required to regularly monitor and report the progress of any approved projects and provide supporting evidence, throughout the lifespan of the project.