This site was set up as a result of the recent attempts to commercially develop Pittencrieff Park (The Glen) and the massive outpouring of public opposition to that move. In a short space of time almost 10,000 people signed a petition opposing any development of the Glen and though the original potential developer abandoned their plans there are signs that the Trust who look after the Glen on behalf of the people will consider further proposals for commercial development.

I had spent some time researching the charters governing the stewardship of the Glen and felt that the information I had gathered should be made available to the general public, so that anyone could see the terms under which their gift from Andrew Carnegie is governed, and the manner in which they have recently been changed.

The charter changes have their genesis in a Report and 10-year Action Plan prepared for Fife Council in 2004. The Trust are on the record in stating that the cost of maintaining the Glen is the driving force behind the need to maximise the income potential in the Glen. However as the costs of the upkeep of the Glen are borne by Fife Council, they are the driving force that propels the Trust in their push for commercial development.

Whatever the motive, the existing terms of the Royal Charter have undergone a radical overhaul as a result of the Supplemental Charter that the Trust applied for in secret in 2005 and which was granted in 2006.

There seems to have been a major miscarriage of justice in the process by which the Privy Council Office approved the charter changes, and granted the terms of the Supplemental Charter. Many of the new terms are diametrically opposed to the wishes of Andrew Carnegie as expressed clearly in his Trust Deed and Letter of 1903.

I thought it only right that the recipients of Carnegie’s gift of the Glen–the people of Dunfermline–should be aware of these facts and decided to set them out on a website for the record.

The Pittencrieff Park Support (PPS) steering committee agreed that I should do this as we considered that the 10,000 people who had signed the petition had in a way given us a mandate to act in a responsible manner to oppose any future attempts to commercially develop the Glen. The terms of the petition that was signed are:

Pittencrieff Park Support group

If there has to be a new building within Pittencrieff let it be a MUSEUM for the people of Dunfermline, wherein young and old can learn to appreciate the heritage of our ancient city.
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I hope that you find this website informative. Yours in the common good, Tom Minogue.

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