A first glimpse of plan to reshape new town

AN ambitious post-pandemic regeneration plan for Glenrothes over the next decade has been revealed.

The Glenrothes Masterplan has been formally laid out by Fife Council in a 42-page blueprint.

Planning consultants Halliday, Fraser, Monro spotlight the commercial development opportunities and regeneration potential of a number of town-centre sites, as well as ways to increase potential for leisure and the development of a night-time economy.

The report also sets out a desired image of central Glenrothes by 2030 as a vibrant and sustainable local community, boasting enhanced green public spaces, and providing more residential developments.

The plan also sets out the need for Glenrothes to maximise its current assets such as its town art heritage and greenspaces such as Riverside Park, as well as to build upon commercial redevelopment already undertaken on North Street.

Gordon Mole, the council’s head of business and employability, said the impact of the pandemic on Glenrothes, while extremely difficult and challenging, had also presented a “unique opportunity” to reshape the town centre over the next decade.

He added: “The plan gives us a framework to focus on creating environmental improvements and exemplifies the best of emerging 21st Century town centre practice.”

Among the key sites earmarked for attention are the former police station site in Napier Road, a regeneration of the dilapidated Albany Gate and eastern end of the town centre, an enhancement of the area around the Kino Cinema, the former Kingdom House site – demolished in 2020 – and the former Glenrothes House site on North Street.

In addition, new ways to link natural assets such as Riverside Park to the town centre would unlock potential for economic improvement, according to the masterplan.

POLICE swooped on a Kirkcaldy flat yesterday morning in what officers called a “planned operation”.

Lismore Avenue, in the Templehall area, was the focus of police activity, with a number of marked vans parked in the street and officers in white protective suits at the scene.

Officers could be seen entering a three-storey block in the street and searching the garden