Saline Kirk Development Project

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Saline and Blairingone Parish Church is at the centre of the village of Saline and has been a core part of village life for generations. But like many church buildings in Scotland, our Kirk faces an uncertain future. It will soon be put up for sale.


Although this is a worry for many people in the village, it is also a once in a lifetime opportunity for the village to work towards buying the church and taking it into community ownership.


This might sound like a very ambitious thing to do, but in fact there are lots of examples of churches that have passed into community ownership across Scotland. The Scottish Government has even funded a Community Ownership Support Service to help community groups achieve this goal.

Village Survey

At the end of 2025, the Saline and Steelend Community Development Trust (SSCDT) sent out a survey to residents to find out if there was any appetite for a community ownership project to acquire the Kirk. The response was a resounding ‘Yes!’ as you can see from a summary of the survey results. 

As part of the survey, we asked people if they would be willing to join a working group. We were delighted to hear back from enough people to form a project team to take the community ownership of the church forward. 

Preparatory Work

Work got underway in January, securing support and advice from organisations such as The Scottish Land Fund and The Development Trusts Association Scotland. There is a huge amount of support for this kind of project, and along with the working group’s enthusiasm, progress is already being made, albeit slowly. There is a lot involved in taking ownership of an old building in need of repair – it is important that we get this right for the building and the site itself.

Community Involvement

Of course, it is even more important that we get this right for the people of Saline and Steelend. The church and church hall are already tremendously important to the groups and individuals who use the buildings. We firmly believe that the responses to the survey indicated that even more people feel a connection to the Kirk than we perhaps realised. There are great aspirations for what a refreshed site could deliver for local people. 


Community consultation will therefore be an ongoing and central part of this project. Along with our Kirk Development Group Facebook page, this section of the website will be very active over the coming months. We will add to our documents when we have more to share, along with any related news and events.

 Saline & Steelend Community Development Trust (SSCDT) is OSCR-registered charity no. SC044063.

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