Fears have been raised that Fife Council budget cuts could have a detrimental impact on the cleanliness of some communities.
Councillors had just finished praising officials for the reinstatement of litter picker “barrowmen” in some north east Fife communities, only to be told the implementation of budget cuts on June 9 may see some of these posts disappear.
Presenting a report on the performance of Fife’s street cleaning service, parks department team manager Iain Barbour said Fife street cleaning continues to be a top performer in comparison with other Scottish councils.
But he warned the council’s north east area committee that, in the kingdom, north east Fife could be the hardest hit by the £700,000 cuts about to affect the department and some of the street cleaners “may disappear”.
Tay Bridgehead councillor Maggie Taylor said: “The people of Tayport have been really pleased to get their own street cleaner who knows every nook and cranny.
“He lives and works in the town and takes pride in his job. So it’s really floored me to hear that we might not have so many of these people after June 9.”
Mr Barbour said the street cleaners might not all disappear but it may be that individuals will cover more than one community. He said Fife Council favoured the model where workers could live and work in a town and “take ownership”, but the Fife Council budget, agreed by the full council in February, meant changes were inevitable.
Mr Barbour said a pilot scheme was about to start in St Andrews, Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline that electronically monitored exactly which bins had been emptied and how this tallied with any littering complaints.
Cupar SNP councillor Karen Marjoram said after the meeting: “Whilst the SNP councillors of north east Fife welcome the report showing our current status of being the cleanest in Fife, we have concerns that the impact of the Labour administration’s budget cuts after June 9 will have a detrimental effect on the current status of cleanliness of our streets and open spaces.
“What we don’t want to see is an increase in the rat population, and the need to replace the street cleaners with a rat catcher. What we don’t want to see is children’s health being put at risk from playing outdoors.”
In response, council leader David Ross said: “This is a complete misrepresentation of what is happening. The council is continuing towards full integration of what were previously separate grounds maintenance and street cleaning services.
“After consultation with staff and trade unions, it has been agreed that the next phase of this major change exercise will focus on delivering better joined-up operations across Fife by creating multi-disciplinary local teams undertaking street sweeping, litter picking, grass cutting and weed spraying.”