Second Weekend

We opened the day with welcomes and introductions at tables. Members shared what makes them proud of Dunfermline, creating a wall display of pride responses.

Key themes from what makes us proud:

• Library and museum, independent shops, the football club
• Greenspaces – the Glen, parks, woods, green corridors
• History and heritage – the Abbey, ancient capital, famous people
• Community & people – friendly faces, welcoming, community spirit

Contributors: David Grove (Lead Officer, Town Centre Development Fife Council) & Andrew Gallacher (Community Manager, City of Dunfermline, Fife Council)

Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1eWln02scCrJM2qDyT-0yKS-i0nA0lz40/ 

This session presented a picture of Dunfermline’s city centre and local economy, including key challenges and opportunities.

Key points from David & Andrew:

• We need to make the case for Dunfermline – competition for resources is tough
• Dunfermline performs well on most metrics, but there is room for improvement
• City Centre needs support and re-development – high vacancy rate
• The city needs to play to its strengths – currently history, heritage and culture

Contributors:
Neil McInroy (Visiting Fellow, Glasgow Caledonian University)
Dr Husam Al Waer (Chair of Urban Design, University of Dundee)

Members split into two groups for conversational sessions with experts on town centres and urban development.

Key points from Neil McInroy

Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PEI8Z4npnZ2PlEW_2HArZncCtAfU-INp/ 

• Wealth is defining features of all economies
• Think about where and how and who it flows to
• Local multipliers are key
• Create a Community Wealth Building plan of action across the five pipes of wealth

Key points from Dr Husam Al Waer

Slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DmlZbN8HxaBLADNL_ZpIS1F1pUoMfxUW 

What Makes Dunfermline Town Centre a Destination?

• Lively (events, culture, evening economy)
• Useful (services, shopping, social infrastructure)
• Beautiful and walkable (quality public realm)
• Social (spaces for gathering and interaction)
• Convenient (good transport, centralised services)
• Contemporary mixed-use spaces (healthcare, coworking, micro-retail, repair cafés).
• Distinctive (local identity and experiences)
• Alive with residents (housing in the core)

Four things that move a town on:

• Provision – using what you already have
• Protection – making sure you don’t lose what you have
• Propagation – getting more of what you have got
• Prospection – getting new things

Contributors: Bill Lindsay (Service Manager – Policy & Place) & Susan Keenlyside (Service Manager – Sustainable Transport & Parking)

Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14PdtCCgzZxukQOnPdZCdEOTPjwZE16Q2 

Short talks on specific challenges facing Dunfermline, including transport, parking, and city centre development. Time to reflect in small groups and capture questions.

Key points from contributors:

• Dunfermline Area Transport Plan
• Give choices on how we travel around the city
• Make it easy for everyone to move around

Opportunity to ask contributors questions from the morning and discuss what feels most important to address.

Members shared photos, drawings and reflections on the city centre that they had prepared before the weekend. This created a rich picture of what we value and what could be better.

Common themes from what we value:

• Historic buildings and heritage features
• The Glen and green spaces close to the centre
• Independent shops and the artisan market
• Cultural venues – Carnegie Hall, theatres

Common themes from what could be better:

• Empty units and lack of variety in shops
• Evening economy – not enough to do after 5pm
• Cleanliness and maintenance
• Safety and lighting
• Communication about events and activities

A panel of local contributors shared perspectives on what’s working, what’s not, and what could make the biggest difference. Time for questions from Assembly Members.

Panellists: chaired by Jonathon Shafi 

• Bill Lindsay (Fife Council)
• David Grove (Fife Council)
• Hilary Roberts (Tourism Manager, Fife Council)
• Samuel Stair (Place Lead, New Practice)
• Susan Keenlyside (Fife Council)

Key points from contributors:

Hilary Roberts

• Welcome to Fife has been delivering specific marketing campaigns to raise awareness of Dunfermline as a city break destination and to bring in more visitors.
• We have been working with tour operators to bring more groups and independent international travellers to Dunfermline, using history and heritage as the main hook to gather interest.
• Proximity to Edinburgh and the airport are distinct selling points for Dunfermline.
• Developing ‘products’ to boost the visitor economy is a priority for us, such as walking and cycling trails, and a vibrant events programme throughout the year
• We have some excellent hotel accommodation in Dunfermline, but need to attract more large, mid-range hotels to really benefit from the group travel market.

Samuel Stair

• Creative and ambitious visions.
• Transparency and authenticity to combat consultation fatigue and distrust
• Equity versus equality in inclusive community engagement
• Cross-community citizenship, rather than siloed interactions
• Encourage those with useful knowledge to join
• Young people are the custodians of the future

Working in groups, Members identified key challenges and drafted calls to action describing what needs to change. Each group shared their draft calls to action at the end of the day.

Initial calls to action covered themes including:

• Transport and connectivity
• Communication between council and businesses/community
• Support for independent and local businesses
• Cleanliness, safety and the physical environment
• Events, activities and things to do

Recap of the day and preview of Sunday’s sessions.

Members were at different tables today. After brief introductions, we did a gallery walk to review Saturday’s draft calls to action and share feedback

An open space session to explore inspiring examples of work on city centres and the local economy. Contributors hosted tables around the room, and Members moved freely to have conversations and gather ideas using idea cards.

Contributors and key points:

Colleen Reid, Scunnered Digital

• Supporting small businesses to be more digital
• Encouraging young people to think about careers in digital
• Using marketing to make Dunfermline a destination for tourists and locals

Derek Bottom, Dunfermline Heritage Partnership

• Our future is forged from our past
• The journey travelled to date
• New project: Dunfermline – A city built on heritage
• 10 year plan: City of Dunfermline Expo 2035
• Culture: Dunfermline – A city for Innovators

Donald McKenzie, Local Tourism Association

• Introduction to the Local Tourism Association
• General indicators for a City Centre economy
• Why Dunfermline? From a business perspective
• Why Dunfermline? From a consumer perspective
• My ideas for improvement

Ian Moir, Fire Station Creative – Arts & Culture

• Community groups should seek to support Fife Council and not always look for them to solve every problem. A trusting partnership is achievable. An adversarial approach never works, but success can be achieved if both parties bring expertise, energy and enthusiasm to the issues at hand.
• If communities and wildlife are to flourish, citizenship must be a proactive, not passive, feature of living in Scotland.
• For a responsible citizen, no task is too low if it improves the quality of life of people and animals.

Lisa Edwards, Former BID

• Reuses empty retail units: Vacant properties become productive again, reducing blight and increasing business rates revenue.
• Creates high‑skilled and semi‑skilled jobs: Robotics, warehousing, micro‑mobility, delivery tech, stock analytics, maintenance, customer service.
• Brings new spending to the centre: Employees working in logistics hubs buy lunch, use shops and service businesses daily.
• Future‑proofs the High Street: Instead of competing with e-commerce, Dunfermline becomes part of the e‑commerce supply chain.
• Attracts tech companies: A place offering a ready-made urban testing environment for last‑mile delivery and automation becomes a magnet for innovators.

Natasha Norbury, Artisan Market

• The new city square
• Events and markets
• Supporting small businesses 

Working in groups, Members reviewed their calls to action from Saturday and developed specific recommendations. Groups considered who would benefit and any trade-offs.

The recommendations template asked groups to capture:

• Our call to action – what needs to change
• Our recommendations – specific ideas for how to address it
• Why this is important
• Things to consider – trade-offs, risks, who else is affected

Groups clustered similar ideas together and prioritised which to develop further. 

The draft set of recommendations can be viewed in the Appendix.

Time to step back and look at the full picture. Members reviewed all emerging recommendations and identified any gaps – challenges not yet addressed or groups whose needs aren’t reflected.

We reflected on what we achieved, what might be improved, and what further information we need before weekend three.