The consultation, which runs until the end of August, aims to gather as many views as possible which will help shape the Glenrothes Town Centre Action Plan, being developed by Fife Council’s Development Services. The plan, which is earmarked to go before the area committee in the Autumn, will set out proposals to develop Glenrothes town centre into a more attractive, lively and successful place, with facilities and activities for all ages as well as a location of choice for investment.

 

Glenrothes has many of the attributes of a typical town centre, but there are some significant gaps. In particular, a range of restaurants, bars, cultural and leisure uses are in short supply and there is limited inviting outdoor public space. The absence of these features helps explain two consistent themes of the consultation: the heart of Glenrothes is almost deserted outside business hours, and because it lacks presence and identity, it does not feel like a real town centre.

 

Some suggestions on how the town centre could be improved, include:

 

Kingdom Shopping Centre, which boasts footfall of 150,000 people per week, have recently produced a booklet on walks around the town centre to encourage more visitors as well as help people to keep fit and healthy. The booklet entitled ‘The Fitness Centre’, developed in partnership with Fife Council’s Take a Pride in Fife, features a map with three town centre walks including the Artwork walk as well as walks within and out with the shopping centre.

 

Glenrothes also benefits from its mature landscape setting, including its green space, parks and woodlands, which is one of the town’s most distinctive and attractive features. Fife Council’s Take a Pride in Fife initiative is already working on a number of improvements to Riverside Park including cleaning out the pond in the Autumn and installing three interpretation boards over the next few months. Another project will involve local primary updating and reinstating the pathway signs in the park as well as producing a booklet on plants and wildlife, supported by two local historians.

 

Margaret Reilly, locality manager (East Glenrothes), said: “This is an exciting opportunity for people to put forward ideas and we would really welcome feedback on the town park as it’s such an integral part of the town centre and we need to do more to encourage people to make greater use of it.”

 

Jim McLeish, team leader, town centres and regeneration, commented: “We’re really keen to get ideas from people who visit the town centre and find out what would make them stay longer.”

 

He added:  “People really do make places, so we need to do more to encourage people to visit and spend longer in the town centre. The routes people use to get through the town centre and directions for pedestrians are key things we will be looking at. We’ve already had a great response to the consultation with some really good ideas coming forward.”

 

The Picture Glenrothes consultation runs until the end of August and the survey can be accessed and completed online at www.fifedirect.org.uk/glenrothestc

See Also

Subjects

• Regenerating our Towns

Towns

• Glenrothes