Calling all community groups across Cupar & Country! If you represent a local association, charity, club, organisation or society – you are invited to an important meeting on Wednesday 28th January at Cupar’s County Buildings on St Catherine Street.
Register now …
We are working on a very tight time frame so need you to register as soon as possible so we can manage numbers for the event.
Simply click on the EventBrite link below and we will be back in touch with more information ahead of the event.
We ask that each organisations only sends one representative as space is relatively limited and we want to ensure as many groups as possible can attend.
Thank you!
Can’t make it?
We know and appreciate this is very short notice: if you can’t make it, please email our Development Officer via this link and share:
- Your name
- Your organisation
- Position within the organisation
- Your email address
- A phone number where we are able to reach you
- Any comment or question you may have regarding this project
The story so far …
Over six months has passed since we were looking at developing the Cupar Food Station – a project borne out of our Community Action Plan, Youth Charette, Local Place Plan and considerable community engagement that resulted in an Outline Business Case for what we hoped would see the transformation of the old Argos site on Ferguson Square.
That hit the buffers when the landlord of the site chose to withdraw his support for what had been two years of research, consultation and planning.
Every cloud …
On the very day we received the news regarding Ferguson Square, we were made aware of Fife Council’s ambition – seeking expressions of interest for the County Buildings site in Cupar.
Earlier last summer they’d published news regarding a review of the local authority’s property portfolio with a need to reduce the scale owing to changing circumstances, working patterns and more – and that included the iconic property in Cupar’s town centre.
Round pegs, square holes?
The Food Station project had scoped the need for some 20,000 sq ft of space to accommodate all that had been identified in our business case:
- The relocation of a re-imagined Food Bank
- A supporting Training Kitchen
- Food & Drink Market Hall
- A heritage element potentially becoming the home of a Fife Whisky Heritage Centre
In addition, there were plans for indoor and outdoor event spaces as well as opportunities for further community support facilities including a School Uniform Exchange and consideration for a future Banking Hub.
The Trust met in August to look at the opportunity to ‘lift’ the Food Station plans and realign within the County Buildings site.
It became clear that if that proposition was to be considered, it opened more opportunities for community-benefit elements to be incluided.
Scotland’s largest …
The opportunity for the Development Trust and its partners – as well as for Fife Council – is to consider a Community Asset Transfer. To achieve this goal, the Trust and stakeholders have to demonstrate genuine community benefit in order for the site to be transferred into community ownership. That’s one hurdle: many others exist around the property’s condition, its unique listed status, current running costs as well as risks associated with flooding and more.
The Trust has worked hard over the last six months – with Fife Council officers, support from the team at Development Trust Association Scotland and volunteers on the project working group. If successful, the Community Asset Transfer will be the largest within an urban environment in Scotland.
A crossroads …
The Development Trust has reached a crossroads. In order to proceed, Council officers have requested further consultation with community partners which can help to shape a report that will go before the Council’s cabinet on 5th March.
That report is a ‘next stage’. The opportunity is massive – but so are the challenges. If the Trust can demonstrate support for the potential asset transfer, that can only go ahead after a detailed strategic review of the site.
We very much hope you are able to come and support this initiative.
Need more?
Whether you are attending or not – if you have any questions, please email our Development Officer via this link. Thank you.
