Revitalising town ‘will take some time’

Managing expectations as improvement work gets under way

A councillor has said revitalising Cowdenbeath, once known as the “Chicago of Fife”, will not happen overnight.

Work has started on improvements in a bid to help the town follow in the footsteps of Lochgelly, which was named Scotland’s most improved town last year.

Work, including on a huge mural in Brunton Square paying tribute to the town’s mining heritage, has started in an attempt to make the town more attractive to visitors, and events to encourage footfall in the town have been organised.

However, Andrew Walker of Fife Council’s town centre development unit argued more could be done to market the town

“There’s a strong civic pride within Cowdenbeath,” he said. “It’s building on that and getting people in the town to realise it is their town centre.”

While locals have been urged to take ownership of town centre improvements, one of the strategies met with a mixed response, when just short of £5,000 was spent on covering bollards with coloured paper.

Councillor Darren Watt, who had criticised the move, said: “I want to take the opportunity to apologise for any embarrassment or additional work I may have caused, but a lot of people thought: ‘here we go, another consultation, more chat’.

“I’ve got such a big passion for Cowdenbeath, but if we’re not very careful we’re going to end up with this beautiful town centre but no businesses and shops left.”

Councillor Mary Lockhart said: “I’m concerned about the impact that having a hub in terms of the town centre has on the investment in the communities around it.

“What that does is take the investment and the people away from those villages and they don’t develop.”

Mr Walker responded: “It’s all down to resources, and the bottom line is there are four of us in the team looking after 32 town centres.

“It’s almost impossible to cover the whole of Fife.”