Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Safeguards needed as greater community control of council sites is considered

Billy Pollock talks to the crowd at the Abbeyview community centre.
Billy Pollock talks to the crowd at the Abbeyview community centre.

Changes to the management of south west Fife halls and centres needs to be looked at on a wider basis, according to a local councillor.

Fife Council is looking at the future of many halls around the kingdom, with some mooted as having potential to be run by the community.

SNP councillor Alice McGarry said her concerned stemmed from a village or town only having a single community facility which may go out of the council’s control.

Meanwhile, Labour councillor Mike Shirkie was worried the six-week consultation process was too ambitious, but was offered assurances that could be flexible, and offered the council the chance to start engaging with communities.

Fife Council depute leader Lesley Laird said the issue had been a challenging one.

With changes in local government over the years, Fife Council now had a large estate.

“I think this is really a long overdue exercise. We are trying to understand what is on our books and how do we use them.

“We want people to be able to use facilities in a way where they can access services and get in touch with the council in a way which best suits them.

“Some of our assets are very well used and some assets could be better used and some are not well used,

“The best way to go forward is with our communities.

“We are talking about bricks and mortar but really the thing to ask is ‘what makes it work?’.

“And if it takes more than six weeks to do that fine – we need to get it right rather than doing it to a timetable.”

Mrs Laird said south west Fife had a difficult geography.

“It is complex and we need to ensure we give ourselves reasonable time and effort for the communities who will be left with the facilities there and they want to see them work in the future.

“It is about what goes on in buildings and how people are going to use them and how to get them involved in shaping that.”

SNP councillor Sharon Wilson urged the council to ensure community groups had as much information as possible, to give an understanding of what might be involved in taking over a hall.

And Mrs McGarry was also concerned over safeguards to ensure the smooth running of any centres handed over in the future.

“There have been some which started off as good facilities and over the years they are not quite as robust as they used to be.

“There have to be clauses so we can intervene when there is a stultifying influence.”

Area committee chairman Bobby Clelland said: “We’ll continue to have discussions with local community groups.

“We need to identify the best way to manage the facilities identified as being in scope for change, while retaining access by all interested groups.

“It’s essential that Fife Council reduces its annual running costs and these changes have the potential to save us at least £60,000 in south west Fife area alone.”