Dalgety Bay is a new town situated in SW Fife on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, looking south towards the City of Edinburgh. Included with Dalgety Bay in the Parish are the old villages of St. David's, Fordell, Moss-Green and Hillend.
Construction of the modern town started in the early 1960's on the land of the former Donibristle Naval Air Station. There are now over 3,000 houses with a population estimated to be around 13-14,000. The town, locally referred to as "The Bay", is essentially a dormitory town for Edinburgh some 15 miles away over the world famous railway and road bridges which cross the Forth.
But this modern town has historic links back over 800 colourful years. Much of the history is linked with the early Church, and indeed the Church in Dalgety continues to play an important part in the whole community.
Tbe vision and enterprise of a property development company secured a large area of greenfield land of the former airfiled for housing development, and in 1964 the first houses were constructed.
A number of private house builders developed their own land packages, and for a time the new town was unique in that there was no public housing on site.
The area became disparagingly referred to as 'spam valley', 'yuppie-land' and occasionally worse.
Despite later development of some fairly large areas of Council houses, Scottish 'Special' houses, Housing Co-operatives and Co-owner developments, the rather 'snobby' image perpetuated for a number of years. The government policies in the 1980's to sell public housing stock to occupiers substantially increased the 'owner-occupier' rates in Dalgety, probably now more than 90%.
The town has matured over the last 30 years, and is now fairly similar in appearance to many other property developments throughout the country.
There are no significant areas where houses can be built. Developers continue to put pressure on Fife Council to allow residential development on the industrial estate - a move resisted strongly by the local residents and community council.
The 'Bay' is basically 'complete' with just a few new houses available. Potential house buyers are looking for others selling up.
More information about housing can be found at the property pages of
Fife Property Centre and
Edinburgh Property
Centre
As already indicated, Dalgety Church is literally at the centre of the community. The buildings are situated at the main traffic circle and act as a focal gateway entering Dalgety Bay. The church halls are used by a large number of church and community groups. Other social activities are
| Squash & Tennis Club | Cricket Club |
| Art Club | Drama Group |
| Sports & Social Club | Sailing Club |
| Round Table, Lions, Rotary, Probus | Bowling Club |
| Day Care Centre (www.dalgetybaydaycare.org.uk) | Senior Citizens group |
| Keep-fit / Dance groups | Range of hobby groups and clubs |
| There is also the full range of 'Normal' facilities | |
| Two primary schools | Health Centre |
| Fife Council Sports Centre | Community Centre |
| Doctor, Dentist, Optician | Library |
| Two parks and several play areas | |
Shopping is confined to two areas. The older and smaller of these is located in the 'old'part of town, while the more modern development is situated adjacent to the church. There are plans to create a further small centre in the new development at St David's in Dalgety Bay West. Currently, there are the following
| Tesco Supermarket | 'Key' & NISA General stores |
| Royal Bank of Scotland | Dunfermline Building Society |
| Pharmacy | News Agents |
| Estate Agents |
Fast Foods (Fish & Chips, Chinese, Indian, Italian) |
| Dry Cleaners | Pub |
| Hairdressers | Vet |
| Optician | Restaurants |
| Dobbies Garden Centre | Post Office |
| Curtis Motors Sales & Service | Petrol Filling Station |
| GEC Marconi (Avionics, Instrumentation & Simulation) |
HEIL (Europe) (Engineering) |
| De La Rue (Specialist Printers etc) | Narvida (Fabricators) |
| Havelock Europa (Store Design) | John Deere (Tractors) |
| Fasco (Distribution) | Ulstein (Boat engineers) |
| Rolls Royce | GERCO engineering |
| Florida Suncentre (Holidays) | ACA Associates |
| Office furniture & Stationery | Acorn Seals |
| Kingdom Confectionery | Atlantic Tours |
Politically, Dalgety Bay is in the parliamentary constituency of Cpwdenbeath, which includes the inland area of Cowdenbeath and Lochgelly and along the coast between Aberdour and North Queensferry; which is the home of the local MP, Gordon Brown, formely Chancellor and Prime Minister. The political colour of the town is rather 'rainbow'. At the last election, the council consituency of ward 6 which includes Dalgety Bay, Aberdour and Inverkeithing returned four councillors, Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Scottish National Party. The town has an active and influential Community Council which endeavours to represent the interests of the people in the 'Bay' to the SNP / Lib Dem controlled Fife Council.
 Dalgety Bay Comunity Council Pages. |
 A reference source of original Sales Brochures for Dalgety Bay. |
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