Town Hall & Library Improvements

Colinsburgh Town Hall is owned by the local community and acts as a community hub and is a key venue for a large number of events and functions. Opened in 1895, the impressive building has a fine heritage which you can read more about via its entry on the Colinsburgh Virtual Tour page on this website. As you would expect such a venerable building requires constant maintenance to ensure it can continue to provide its function for the village.

The Community Trust also leases the Galloway Library from Fife Council and one of the lease conditions is an obligation to maintain the fabric, fixtures and fittings of the library to an agreed standard to ensure the Library continues to be a good venue for its activities.

One of the three key objectives of the Colinsburgh Community Trust charity is:

• "To oversee the maintenance and running of the Galloway Library and the Town Hall and to raise funds to enable this."

A subgroup of the Management Committee was convened in 2023 and it compiled a 'Vision Statement' for the Town Hall and Library Improvement. The Vision Statement can be read via this link. The statement describes our aspirations for the Hall and Library's future and will be used to help define a range of Improvement Projects that will deliver the vision over time and ensure that both buildings continue to provide a safe and pleasant environment for village events and activities and wherever possible support the Green Agenda via the use of renewable energy technologies.

Recent improvement work for the Library includes:

• New blinds in the Library Room and Reading Room
• New Infra Red heating in Library Room and Reading Room
• New flooring in Library Room and WC
• Library Room and Kitchen redecorated
• New Rug in Reading Room

Recent improvement work in the Town Hall includes:

• Main 'Diocletian' Window replaced
• A number of relatively small essential repairs to roofing, WCs, external walls, flooring, entrance doors etc.

However, the Town Hall requires significant investment to refurbish its interior, particularly the main hall walls, wainscotting and flooring. It also requires more sustainable and economic heating and energy solutions. A car park in the leased field to the East would also make the hall more attractive for events.

The Community Trust has explored how to achieve significant grant funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. You can find out more about this by clicking here. We would need to demonstrate a strong heritage component in our project to win the award.

As an alternative, we have submitted, via Fife Council, a stage 1 application to the Scottish Government Regeneration Capital Grant Fund. If successful, we will be invited to submit the more substantive stage 2 application in November 2026.

In the meantime, the Trust has engaged a number of professionals to better inform the scope and cost of any future grant applications by:

• Developing a conservation statement and heritage impact assessment for the hall
• Carrying out a condition survey for the hall
• Developing a costed maintenance plan for the hall
• Advising on the best sustainable heating and energy solutions for the hall

This work has been funded thanks to a generous grant award from Fife Council's Rural Development Fund which is very much appreciated.

Finally, the Trust carried out a major community consultation between 25th August and 3oth September 2026 on the hall to help demonstrate the essential community support for the project. The results of this survey can be read here.

A major finding of the survey was a large number of comments on the need for a car park by the Town Hall. The Community Trust have done some exploratory work on what this might entail. You can read their feasibility report here.

Also, please visit our Fundraising and Donations page to see how we work together to raise funds to cover project costs and how you can help.