Alister Jack

It would be hard to think of a more suitable place than Dunfermline to be granted city status as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

The vibrant Dunfermline of today springs from a rich and royal heritage.

Indeed, there are those who would argue strongly that Dunfermline’s illustrious history means it is already regarded as a city and official confirmation of its status is long overdue.

Dunfermline occupies a special place in Scotland’s story as our ancient capital, an important religious centre and a royal seat for Scottish kings and queens.

In particular, it is famous as the centre of Scottish kingship during the reign of Malcolm III and his wife Queen Margaret, an English princess who became a much-loved Scottish queen.

With such a royal pedigree, it is especially welcome that Dunfermline has been one of eight places to emerge victorious from the UK Government competition for this prestigious civic honour in the 70th year of Her Majesty’s reign.

It is also recognition of the thriving city Dunfermline is today which is expanding rapidly while building on its fine reputation as an educational, industrial and cultural centre.

An indication of the city’s cultural importance can be seen by the 200,000 visitors welcomed at the Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries in the first year since their reopening. Another demonstration of civic pride is the annual Outwith Music and Arts Festival.

There are also plans for an ambitious new learning campus.

The conferral of city status will be a huge boost for Dunfermline and its citizens.

We can see this in the awarding of city status on Perth a decade ago during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. City status has helped raise Perth’s profile, sense of community spirit and coincided with investment in the area, and research shows that the local economy expanded by 12% in the decade it was granted city status.

I appreciate a tremendous amount of work was put into all the excellent Scottish submissions to the contest and my commiserations to those who were unsuccessful. But previous experience tells us that preparing bids can be an extremely useful exercise for boosting civic pride and generating ideas to stimulate the local economy.

Meanwhile, I congratulate the people of Dunfermline for this important recognition which very much reflects their history, talents and sense of community. And I believe it is something that would have met with the approval of the city’s most famous son – the great industrialist and philanthropist – Andrew Carnegie.

“It is something that would have met with Andrew Carnegie’s approval