Building work on £2.8m town hub under way.

Children from local primary school help plant trees to begin £2.8m hub’s creation

A ground-breaking ceremony marked the start of construction on a longawaited £2.8 million community hub in Tayport.

The facility, which has been 24 years in the making, is scheduled to be open in June 2019 and will offer space for sports, arts and crafts, education and training.

Yesterday, children from Tayport Primary School planted trees in the grounds where the building will stand on Shanwell Road.

Richard Tough, chairman of Tayport Community Trust (TCT), said: “I’m absolutely delighted.

“The Tayport community has been working hard on this long-term project, which will include a cafe, an all-purpose sports hall, as well as another hall that can be used for events and fitness groups.

“The idea is that the facility will be flexible to the needs of Tayport.

“Initially, the project started out with the aim of building a sports facility, but since then it has evolved to be a more holistic project to include tourism, business, arts, crafts and much more.”

As a separate but related project, the community hub will be flanked by a camping and caravanning site which will aim to enhance Tayport as a tourist destination and generate revenue to support the TCT activities.

Early steps to get the project under way began in 1994 with the creation of Tayport Community Sports Action Group.

TCT picked up the baton in 2008 and in 2016 the Shanwell Road site was bought with help from the Scottish Land Fund.

The following year the Steel Fabrication Factory, which was on the site, was demolished and that paved the way for TCT’s successful application to the Big Lottery Fund for £1.2m in March 2017.

Since then, a period of frantic fundraising activity has raised more than £2.7m to meet the increasing costs of the project.

Construction work will begin in early July.

The Tayport community has been working hard on this long-term project. RICHARD TOUGH, TAYPORT COMMUNITY TRUST

Gareth Jennings. Derrick Brown and Stephen Lynas from Hadden Construction, with children from Tayport Primary School, are ready to start construction of the new hub. Below: Trees are planted.