Dunfermline Council Leader – Councillor David Ross
Dunfermline and its hinterland, therefore, offer strategic growth opportunities for business or industry with planned future growth of the City being managed proactively through the implementation of the Fife Council Local Development Plan. This identifies Dunfermline as a location for strategic development including new housebuilding, the provision of additional employment land and associated infrastructure by 2026.
Fife is home to the University of St Andrews, rated the UK’s best university in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide and the first university to ever top the British rankings above Oxford and Cambridge. Dunfermline also benefits from its close proximity to the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier University, Heriot-Watt University, Stirling University, Abertay University, and the University of Dundee.
The region is also well-served by Fife College, with campus facilities in Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes and Levenmouth. A new state-of-the-art £180million Shared Learning Campus development in Dunfermline is set to become the world’s largest Passivhaus building to date, providing multi-purpose space for college courses alongside new-build replacements for Woodmill and St Columba’s RC High Schools, sports facilities and a mixture of social and civic spaces.
Major businesses located in the Dunfermline and the surrounding area include Amazon, Sky UK, Sainsbury’s Bank, Babcock International, FMC Technologies, Ingenico, Optos, Bluebox Aviation, CR Smith, Lloyds Bank Group and Nationwide Building Society.
This business base strength is supported by the proximity of Dunfermline to other major local economic centres including those within Mid Fife. In this respect, the M90 and A92 road corridors directly link Dunfermline to strategic investment or economic infrastructure within Mid Fife areas including Glenrothes, Kelty and Kirkcaldy. This is complemented by associated business and industrial activity at Burntisland, Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly and Levenmouth – each of which also serve Dunfermline by being easily accessible via the Fife Circle/East Coast Mainline railway or by sea via the Port of Rosyth. The latter is an internationally recognised location and home to globally recognised businesses including Babock International, Oceaneering, Scarborough Muir Group and Forth Ports Plc. The Port of Rosyth is a nationally important, world class investment location focussed on advanced marine engineering, energy, port and logistics activity. It is located less than 5 miles from Dunfermline City and offers unrivalled opportunity to boost the City and Fife’s connectivity to national and international markets. Currently the Port of Rosyth and in turn Dunfermline, are benefitting from the launch of an advanced manufacturing and innovation campus facilitated by Babcock International, titled the Arrol Gibb Innovation Campus (AGIC). The area is also part of the newly shortlisted Green Freeport designation for the Firth of Forth, as announced in January 2023 by the UK and Scottish Governments.
The Fife Economic Strategy, Fife Employment Land Strategy and Mid Fife Economic Prospectus & Action Plan are in place to ensure that Dunfermline continues to attract primary or secondary investment including accommodating key sectors of the local economy which include: Manufacturing & Engineering; Financial & Business Services; Information & Communication Services; Professional, Scientific & Technical Services; Health & Social Care, Transportation & Storage; and Tourism & Hospitality.
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