Councillors were given an economic profile of Dunfermline which stated that more than a quarter of the retail floorspace was vacant, there were 1,000 fewer jobs than five years ago and the number of businesses was well below expectations for Scotland’s newest city.
Officers said that while they’re trying their best to encourage companies to move into the city centre, many aspects were beyond their control.
David Grove, the council’s lead officer in town centre development, business and employability, said: “The overheads in taking on a city centre premises are very high and it’s a disincentive for a lot of small businesses.
“So while we have things like the small business bonus scheme which can help with rates, energy costs have gone through the roof and supply costs have gone through the roof, so it’s really quite difficult to get somebody that has a small business to move to a High Street location.”
He went on: “There’s also a bit of a disincentive in that a lot of the owners of these (vacant) buildings have bought them at the top of the market, for quite high values.
“The reality now is that, for town and city centre premises, the value has fallen quite considerably.
“So from these owners’ point of view they’re more reluctant to sell them on as they won’t realise what they’ve paid for them.”
The report to the City of Dunfermline area committee had the ‘most recent’ figures from 2023-24.
That added up to 283 businesses per 10,000 adults, just below the Fife average of 288 and well adrift of the Scottish average of 377.
The percentage of empty units in Dunfermline at April 2024 was 21.3 while vacant floor space was 25.5 per cent.
READ MORE: There are 1,000 fewer jobs but ‘brighter days ahead’ for Dunfermline
Morag Millar, the council’s service manager for place, programmes and policy, said: “Although it’s the second highest in Fife for number of businesses, it’s still lower than the Fife average and also the Scottish average.
“There’s been a fall in the number of jobs within the area, something that is quite regular in terms of certain sectors like advanced manufacturing.
“Business premises owned by the council are almost at full occupancy – 97 per cent – but almost a quarter of the retail and service floor space in the city is vacant and that has almost doubled since 2020.
“Vacant and derelict land, although it’s only 1.5 per cent of the total vacant and derelict land in Fife, it did increase in 2023-24.”
Committee convener, Cllr James Calder, said: “One thing that does stick out is the vacant retail space.
“How are we dealing with this challenge? What are you doing to support smaller businesses to set up in the retail area?
“Working with the Kingsgate is important too as the end where Debenhams used to be has a number of vacant units and feels a bit barren.”
Mr Grove said there are building improvement grants, to improve shopfronts and make the premises more attractive to customers, and they’re trying to encourage more people to live above High Street shops to make it “more of an active community”.
He said business efficiency grants were used to help small firms make their premises more energy efficient, and help cut their bills, and they aim to continue upskilling workers through training schemes.
Mr Grove said events, such as last year’s Tree in the Park, had also helped to bring more people into the city centre, with a “notable” increase in footfall reported by shops and restaurants.
He added: “The Kingsgate has been a bit more difficult as there’s been a protracted takeover and I’m not even sure now if it’s fully resolved.”
Northdale Asset Management, a property investment company based in London, confirmed to the Press that the deal to buy the shopping centre in Dunfermline, along with two other malls in King’s Lynn and Loughborough, had gone through.
The deal for all three was a reported £35 million.
Cllr Aude Boubaker-Calder asked what could be done to encourage private owners to bring premises back into active use, highlighting empty buildings that were “becoming eyesores”.
“In saying that, if the property is in a bit if a state and there’s quite high costs for somebody taking it over, that will put small businesses off.
“That’s where the business improvement grants come in and we can help bring them up to a useable standard.”
She said checks showed that the vast majority of empty units are being actively marketed but the demand was not there.
Mr Grove concluded: “It’s a difficult picture and difficult to have one solution to all of this.
“Unfortunately it’s the way that town and city centre have gone over the last 10-15 years with a lot of retailers starting to retrench and moving to online platforms only.”
