Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has stepped up the party’s local election campaign in Cupar.
Former Fife resident Miss Davidson joined candidates Roger Guy and Andy Heer to pound the pavements and speak to businesses about their manifesto pledges.
If elected, the Tories have said they would fight for a doubling of the business rate incentivisation scheme, which would see 100% of non-domestic rates revenues raised beyond target returned directly to councils.
In its manifesto, the party has also pledged to listen and act on the public’s responses to consultations and “combat the scourges of homelessness and sub-standard housing” by increasing the number of homes for affordable rent and first-time buyers.
The party leader spoke out on a subject close to the hearts of many in north-east Fife wind turbine applications.
She said: “We’re very clear that when there has been a planning decision, and windfarms are just one example of this, local people have got to be allowed to make decisions about what what is right for their own area.
“There is a local strategic development plan and our view as a party is that, if a decision is made in accordance with that plan, it should not be immediately called in.
“It shouldn’t be the case that, having gone through the planning system, a turned-down windfarm application is immediately called in by the Scottish Government. That’s just not how the planning system is supposed to work.”‘Strong offering’Scottish Conservatives have called for a shift from centralised to local government and have published separate manifestos for each local authority area in the run up to the elections on May 3.
The decision to freeze council tax was welcomed but the Tories are prepared to go further and seek to reduce council tax. They aim to save money through “preventative spending”.
An area where the party was in agreement with SNP-Lib Dem administration was the decision to privatise care homes. According to the manifesto, council care homes do not represent value for money and the Conservatives would press ahead with looking at other ways of providing care.
Meanwhile, the Conservatives said they would campaign for cross-border train services through Fife to be retained.
Manifesto pledges also include reopening the Levenmouth rail link and retaining concessionary rail fares within Fife while looking at reintroducing concessions to Edinburgh and Dundee.
Winning hearts and minds in Fife, and Scotland as a whole, is undoubtedly a challenge for the Conservatives but Miss Davidson was sounding confident.
She said: “We have always been a party of localism. What works in Stonehaven might not work in St Andrews.
“I think we have been a responsible opposition party in Fife Council. We have some excellent councillors who are very experienced.
“I think we’ve got a really strong offering in Fife and really strong candidates.”