Dunfermline Weekly 🌞 6 April 2025
Schools' unhappy meals, phone box retirements, Halbeath roundabout works continue, and more
💸 Previously announced 8.2% council tax increase is now in effect, as is the ScotRail fare increase of 3.8%. There are no changes to council car parking rates or to Stagecoach fares.
🍽️ Fife high school students have been complaining about meal provision since 2019 with no improvement, with one of the original campaigners having completed education and become a councillor himself. A new petition was presented to the council in 2023 with its authors now in their first year at university. Students have consistently pointed out insufficient supply of food, resulting in regular occasions of cafeterias running out, as well as non-existent vegan options. (Dunfermline Press)
🛒 A man was charged over attempt to start a fire at the Duloch Tesco supermarket. The store was briefly evacuated but there were no injuries. (Courier)
☎️ BT is looking to remove multiple payphone booths across West Fife. Out of 12 phones on the list, one has been used to place only four calls over the whole year, and none has been used for an emergency call. There is room for communities to adopt phone boxes once the payphones are removed, with neighbourhood libraries, defibrillators and other facilities popping up instead. (Dunfermline Press)
🔥 Three men have been jailed for 8 to 12 years for setting two Rosyth homes on fire on 25 July 2023. It remains unclear why exactly the attacks were carried out, but all of the men have criminal records, two of which are quite extensive. (BBC)
🍺 North Queensferry Trust application for community buyout of Albert Hotel has been rejected by the Scottish Government with concerns over business sustainability of the pub if it were to be reopened under community ownership. The trust is now planning to appeal on procedural grounds. (Dunfermline Press)
💰 The council has agreed to consult on a tourist tax for Fife, with a 5% option in line with Edinburgh being most seriously considered. (Fife Council)
🛍️ Economic profile of Dunfermline suggesting reasons for High Street vacancies has been presented to the council. The biggest issue brought up is the overheads for city centre commercial properties, even with discounted business rates. This is followed by property owners reluctance to sell properties bought at peak valuations, and very limited hotel accommodation in the city. (Dunfermline Press)
🛝 Cowdenbeath play park is to be refurbished and the council is looking for input from the community. The survey can be found here until 30 April.
🚗 Average waiting time for a driving test in Dunfermline is nearly 24 weeks as of March. Practical test waiting times have sky-rocketed during Covid-19 pandemic and never recovered to pre-pandemic times. DVSA has been struggling with the backlog for various reasons, the most challenging being appointment resellers as discussed by driving instructor Richard Fanders. (Dunfermline Press)
Place names of Fife
🗺️ We’re almost back in Dunfermline, with today’s selection being the villages immediately to the west of the city.
Carnock - from Gaelic cearn ‘corner’, so ‘a corner place’. The medieval parish church was localted in a sharp bend of the Carnock Burn here.
Gowkhall - from Scots gowk ‘cuckoo’.
Cairneyhill - from cairn, ‘a rocky hill’.
Crossford - Scots cross and ford, quite literally a ford with a cross nearby. Most likely referring to ford on the Crossford Burn, somewhere near where modern day Cairneyhill Road bridges over the burn.
Keavil - from Scots cavel/cavill, ‘a piece of wood used in casting lots’. One can safely assume the plots of land were split or allocated here by casting lots at some point in time.
Transport
⭕ Lane closures at M90 J3 Halbeath will continue taking place overnight until 21 April. Roadworks at the roundabout have been extended due to a delay in construction progress caused by cold and wet weather in previous months. (Amey)
🚌 Stagecoach is to introduce a new JET 787 bus route from Edinburgh Airport to St Andrews stopping at Halbeath P&R, Kinross, and in towns in the north of Fife. The service will start on 5 May. (Courier)