The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Regeneration of Kirkcaldy just months away
ENGINEERING: Contracts go out to tender in January
Major engineering works to transform the heart of Kirkcaldy are to begin within months, The Courier can reveal.
The town’s Esplanade will be torn up and reduced to a single lane roadway as part of a project to improve connections between the waterfront and the town centre.
There are hopes the regeneration will tie in with the opening of a new cinema and the revamped Kings Theatre to completely reshape the area and attract thousands of visitors.
Councillor Neil Crooks said contracts would go out to tender in January and that the remodelling of the road could be complete by the end of next year, adding: “This waterfront could transform Kirkcaldy.”
A major transformation of Kirkcaldy’s waterfront could be completed by the end of next year, it has been claimed.
Councillor Neil Crooks, the convener of the Kirkcaldy area committee, has said that one of the town’s busiest roads will be reduced to a single lane in a bid to create more leisure space and car parking for the town centre.
Designed to tie in with a host of exciting projects along the waterfront, Mr Crooks believes the project is the key to unlocking the town’s economic potential.
Confirming that contracts for the huge scheme would be advertised within months, he said: “I have always said that we needed to replace some of the car parking that was lost when we built the swimming pool on the busiest car park in the town,” he said.
“We were originally going to go out to tender in October but we have pushed this back to January as we keep getting ideas that could be factored in.”
The prospect of removing the current dual carriageway was first raised in 2008.
Counc illors have long been determined to transform the town’s waterfront to create better ties between it and the town centre.
With the Esplanade seen as the main obstacle to this, traffic surveys have been conducted by the council’s transportation department with the results concluding that a single carriageway in each direction would be able to sustain the volume of traffic.
Plans to remodel the road coincide with a number of exciting projects in the town centre.
A £10 million cinema – a project that could create up to 250 jobs – is earmarked for the site of the former swimming pool and is currently working its way through the planning process.
This is expected to attract a host of restaurant chains to the town centre, creating further job opportunities locally.
Meanwhile, the hugely ambitious Kings Theatre project to revive the former ABC cinema at the east end of the High Street is still progressing, with those behind it claiming that the finished venue could attract top music acts and theatre shows.
“This waterfront could transform Kirkcaldy,” added Mr Crooks. “The next five years could see some huge changes.”
“Ihave always said thatwe needed to replace some of the car parking that was lost when we built the swimming pool on the busiest car park in the town.
NEIL CROOKS