My Cowdenbeath CIC is ‘disappointed’ that Fife Council chose not to invest in our plans for the town after a recent funding bid appeared to be shelved.
The organisation, which launched earlier this year, is the new community interest company which has been created to develop plans for the improvement of the town and local neighbourhoods, and submitted a bid for £110,000 in funding, which is around 8% of the total fund available.
Councillors on the Cowdenbeath Area Committee met on Wednesday to rubber stamp proposals on how £1.297m of Covid recovery funding would be spent over the next 2 years, with no mention of the group’s bid. The group have now reached out to Council officials for feedback.
My Cowdenbeath’s bid had included work to create new Neighbourhood Improvement Plans, revisit plans to open Cowdenbeath Town House, create a ‘Place Plan’ for the town, the creation of a new community radio station, and seed funding for a Festival of Ideas event this summer. No specific projects were funded for Cowdenbeath or Kelty in the final funding decision.
Councillors approved £528,000 for community projects and more than £765,000 in new Council roles, including extra Welfare Support staff, additional Community Worker positions and the creation of a local Social Work team. There was also investment in mental health projects at both local High Schools, and the development of a Youth Work modern apprentice for the area.
Liz Rae, Finance Director of the My Cowdenbeath group said:
“We’re obviously disappointed that on this occasion the Council couldn’t support our bid, but we are hopeful of securing investment in future funding opportunities. We hope officers and local Councillors can continue to see the value in investing in all our localities, where a number of challenges still remain.”
The full list of community projects funded as part of the Community Recovery Fund in the Cowdenbeath area are:
Lochgelly Town Hall – £20,000
Lumphinnans Play Park – £150,000
Cardenden Play Park (Kier’s Brae) – £40,000
Ballingry tree growing – £10,000
Cardenden community orchard (Corrie Centre) – £10,000
Crossgates Primrose Trust Sports Centre Phase 1 – £200,000
Hill of Beath car park (rear school) – £50,000
Participatory Budgeting work – £48,000
The full report can be read here.
What do you think about the proposals? You can email comments and ideas to info@mycowdenbeath.scot
My Cowdenbeath CIC 