Six options costing millions on the table for Fife council on future of Inverkeithing high school

Six options have been put forward for the future of a high school in Fife.

The options – which range from £3m to £28m – will be considered as part of the council’s upcoming budget-setting process despite pleas from Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay councillors to restrict the options to those which would reinvest in the existing high school facilities.

Inverkeithing High School is currently home to a swimming pool and community-use facilities.

However, the future of those facilities has been up for debate since Fife Council decided to build a new replacement high school in Rosyth four years ago.

The future of the current pool and facilities has been the centre of local community debate and concern ever since.

What are the six options?

The Cabinet Committee report outlined six possible options for the future of South and West Fife’s community use facilities.

Option one would seek to retain and refurbish the swimming pool, community facilities, and pitches at the existing Inverkeithing High School.

This option could cost up to £14.8 million. The report explained that this option is “risky” because it would “only extend the usable lifespan of the building by 10 years”.

Option two would seek to build a new pool with community facilities at Inverkeithing High School site at a cost of £24 million.

Option three would see the council build a new stand-alone pool at the Inverkeithing High School site for approximately £13 million.

Option four would seek to build a new pool at the replacement High School on the Fleet Grounds site. This would cost approximately £11.8 million.

Option five would seek to construct community facilities without a pool at the Ballast Bank Park site within Inverkeithing. This would cost approximately £10.6 million.

Option six would provide grass and synthetic turf pitches only within Inverkeithing – costing between £2.7-6 million.

What happens next?

Fife Cabinet Committee councillors voted 13 to 10 in favour of keeping all six options on the table for now and considering the affordability of each as part of the upcoming budget setting process.

Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay councillors David Barratt and Sarah Neal (SNP) pushed for the committee to restrict the options to those which would reinvest in the existing high school facilities.

However, Labour, Lib-Dem and Conservative councillors – including Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay councillor Patrick Browne – voted to keep all of the options open.

“The recommendations as written are committing us to take forward six options, none of which the community support, or address the identified requirements,” Cllr Barratt said.

“We should commit to exploring investment in the existing site, not just because it’s what we promised to do but because it represents the only site with the potential to deliver ambitious plans for South West Fife.”

Councillor Brian Goodall (SNP for Rosyth) added that narrowing the field of options is also more practical so the council is not “wasting time and resources looking at options they know are dead in the water”.

“If we agree [to consider all six options going forward], we’re keeping options alive that I don’t think anyone in the room supports,” Cllr Goodall said.

“You’ll have to explain why you have supported options that don’t have a pool when the community has made it very clear that they want a pool. That’s the whole of South and West Fife you’ll have to answer to.”

Councillor Altany Craik (Labour for Glenrothes West and Kinglassie ), led the charge for keeping all of the options open. He justified the move by saying the decision was simply a matter of financial responsibility.

“Being ambitious is one thing, but having no money to back it up is all fur coat and no underwear,” he said.

“You can’t keep making promises and you can’t keep spending money you don’t have. Eventually you have to pay for it.

“So for us, as a responsible council, we’ll look at these options, we’ll look at the costings, and we’ll try to deliver the best thing as part of the budget process which the entire council will decide on later.”

Community Council response

The decision was contrary to what six South and West Fife community councils had hoped for.

After the committee papers were published last week, Aberdour Community Council, Dalgety Bay and Hillend Community Council, Inverkeithing Community Council, Rosyth Community Council, North Queensferry Community Council, Dunfermline South Community Council and Inverkeithing United FC banded together to send a joint letter to the committee.

They believe that none of the options went far enough.

“While these options do go some way to fulfil the previously noted commitment to retain community-use facilities in Inverkeithing itself, it is the opinion of the below-signed organisations that none of the proposed options fully satisfy the needs of our local area and fall short of what is needed to future-proof the availability of community use facilities for local residents,” the joint letter stated.

The letter emphasised that the community wishes to retain a community-use sports and recreation facility on the site once Inverkeithing High School relocates to Rosyth.

This, the letter said, is the “overwhelming preference of the people of the local area”.

The letter continued: “We do, however, recognise the merits within the above-highlighted options and therefore urge Fife Council to take forward further consideration of Options 2, 3a, and 3b and to work closely with community organisations and local sporting groups to deliver a neoteric upgrade to the local community sporting facilities.”

Those options are still up for debate and consideration as part of the budget planning process, but they will be going head to head with relocation and pool-less options as well.

Following the decision on Thursday, councillors will consider all six options and look at the affordability of each as part of the capital planning and budget setting process for 2025/26.