March 2025 marks ten years since the Kinghorn community gained ownership of five plots of land. In 2015, Kinghorn Community Land Association (KCLA), with the support of the Community Land and Common Good funds, used community right-to-buy powers to purchase ten acres of land on behalf of the community. This gives everyone living in Kinghorn a say in what this land is used for and how it is managed. Through the same process KCLA had already helped the Ecology Centre to buy its land and to build a new centre, which opened in 2015.
Some key achievements since KCLA bought the land are:
- Protecting and nurturing biodiversity across all community-owned land.
- Establishing a community orchard.
- Receiving planning permission to establish Fife’s first natural burial ground and columbarium.
- Leasing land to the Ecology Centre for a community growing space.
- Purchasing land north of Oak Street, which is being developed as a memorial garden for the eco-cemetery, raising the money through a community crowd-funding campaign.
Now, through the continued hard work of our volunteer committee, we are close to being able to open the natural burial ground, named Wild Meadow Eco Cemetery by pupils from Kinghorn Primary School. You might have seen the car park, the new signage, and the pathways that have been put in. We are busy working through the final arrangements in conjunction with Fife Council Bereavement Services.
Watch out for more news of this and other ideas for community ownership in future articles.
This article first appeared in the March 2025 edition of the Kinghorn Chronicle.