This week saw the demolition and clearance of the former Kelty North Church which served as a community centre for the village for over two decades to make way for a new sports and community facility.
The £7 million project includes an extension on to the Kelty Primary School with four classrooms, a large sports hall, changing rooms, meeting rooms, youth drop in, gym, soft play area and dance studio as well as early years centre and a full size 3G synthetic pitch. The centre will also incorporate the local office and library both of which will be re located from their current locations in the village.
The budget for the project was brought forward by the former council leader Alex Rowley who is now the MSP for the area. Mr Rowley said; “The demolition of the former centre and church has brought mixed feelings in the village of Kelty. There are so many memories associated with the building from people being christened, getting married to attending the cubs and youth clubs. That said there is an excitement that these new facilities will be well used and service the future generations well, so in that sense progress is welcome. The new Kelty centre is a good example of colocation of a number of local services into one building that will be used by the local community and the local schools.
“I was pleased when visiting the site this week to hear that despite there being a few delays that weather permitting everything will be on target for a late summer 2015 opening. I also saw the first of the new classrooms are in place along with the new play areas for the children and the temporary classrooms. Everyone is working together to make sure that things run smoothly and safely with as little disruption as possible and the end result will I sure be worth any inconvenience”.
Picture shows Alex Rowley meeting staff leading the new community project
