Minister hits out over state of city park
ACABINET secretary has raised what she called the “unacceptable” state of a Scottish city park some three years after it was “dug up” by developers.
Equalities Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville brought up concerns around the state of Headwell Park, in Dunfermline, with the local authority. She accused Fife Council of allowing developers to leave the park in a state of disrepair.
The Dunfermline MSP said the section of Headwell Park in question was “dug up” by the Perth-based I&H Brown in 2021 to allow for essential drainage works to take place. However, despite promises the land would be restored to its previous condition, residents are still waiting for the necessary work to be completed.
Somerville said: “It is regrettable that Fife Council have failed to press the developers harder to complete their restoration of Headwell Park.
“It is also unacceptable that the local authority have allowed residents to be left with an area of park land that is a shadow of the space it used to be.”
She added: “It is vital that Fife Council take the views of residents seriously and explain to the developers that they will not be accepting any further excuses.”
Local resident Colin Gourlay has been campaigning to urge the local authority to take action.
He said: “Repeated site meetings and expressions of dissatisfaction to management at Fife Council have been met with hollow excuses and disinterest, bordering on contempt for residents’ frustrations over the council’s mismanagement of this public asset.
“The community deserves an apology, satisfactory swift restoration of the surface, and to be compensated for the three-year loss of this popular amenity.”
Fife Council’s estates services manager Michael O’Gorman said: “We have been and will continue to press I&H Brown to re-instate the land at Headwell Park in Dunfermline. A number of attempts have been made to do this, however, this work is weather dependent and has been hampered by the heavy rain we’ve been experiencing. The land was re-levelled last autumn, and re-seeding is now due to take place.
“We look forward to this work being completed as soon as possible so that the grass can benefit from the full duration of the growing season, and so we can take it back under our control for the public to enjoy.”