Our mission

Kinghorn Community Land Association (KCLA) is a community group whose main aim is to provide environmental protection and/or improvement by acquiring and/or conserving land or land assets for the public benefit in or near to Kinghorn, in order to regenerate the community in such a way that will not adversely affect the rural environment.

Our visions and goals

• To create Fife’s first eco cemetery and columbarium.
• The first stage is to raise the funds necessary to create the eco cemetery.  This will be achieved through funding applications and private donations, which will support the creation of pathways and planting of native trees, flowers and shrubs.
• The planting scheme has been chosen to allow biodiversity and wildlife to thrive.

The cemetery stakeout!

On February 23rd (2019) a group of KCLA members and committee members spent the morning staking out the proposed eco-cemetery land. The purpose was get a “feel” for how the pathways would look to visitors. Currently the field is overgrown with dead vegetation from last year. In the next few weeks we are preparing to cultivate these pathways so that they are more accessible.

Working with The Ecology Centre

The Ecology Centre exists adjacent to Kinghorn Loch and, since the formation of KCLA in 2004 both organisations have been working in close harmony. Since the end of 2018 the management committees of both organisations have been forging an even closer relationship. Both boards have agreed that the registered office and administrative centre of KCLA can be at The Ecology Centre. As future developments take place it is anticipated that The Ecology Centre will offer office facilities and additional support such as management of KCLA volunteers.

Our quest for funding

• A drive is now on in Kinghorn to raise just over £0.5 million to build Fife’s first eco-cemetery and ‘columbarium’ on the east of Kinghorn Loch next to The Ecology Centre. Planning permission was granted by Fife Council for the project in September 2017.
• A columbarium is a memorial repository for the ashes of passed-away loved ones, based on the concept of an Iron Age ‘barrow’, on completion it will be the first of its kind in Scotland. It was designed by Simpson & Brown architects.
• Kinghorn and the surrounding area has a pressing need for burial space.

What are we doing!

The eco-cemetery and columbarium will be unique to Scotland, attracting visitors to the area and bringing income to local businesses. An estimated profit of £10,000 per year will be created for re-investment into community projects, via the Common Good Fund.  We will include educational aspects around the columbarium, encouraging people to think in new ways about death and bereavement.

A small number of jobs will also be created to run and administer the eco-cemetery.

There are a number of stages by which we will raise the monies.

• Phase 1 – Hard landscaping

Capital costs of around £140,000 are needed for the car park and access road. We are applying to land fill tax funding but need 10{2a1c617d3eedb864a1e6bb13e0df58cb021aa20e6ea1d2a2537fa45139d571ba} match funds before we can apply. We have recently been awarded £12,000 from Kinghorn Common Good Fund as match funding for this.

•  Phase 2 – Greening the area

In May 2018 we received a provisional grant from Fife Environmental Trust (FET) for the planting scheme. We need to raise 25{2a1c617d3eedb864a1e6bb13e0df58cb021aa20e6ea1d2a2537fa45139d571ba} matched funding.

• Phase 3: Building the columbarium

We need to raise an estimated £400,000 for this. We hope to do this through sponsorship, crowd funding and advance sales.

We have been awarded a small grant by the Lottery Awards for All to develop publicity materials and build a network of supporters.