The Labour Party has been accused of a ”political fudge” over a proposed shake-up of planning committees in Fife.
It came as opposition councillors made an 11th-hour attempt last night to delay the proposal, which is scheduled for debate and a decision at tomorrow’s full Fife Council meeting in Glenrothes.
The SNP yesterday lodged a call in of Fife Council executive committee’s decision to recommend three regional planning committees in Fife instead of the existing eight.
Similar call ins have been pursued this week by the Lib Dems and Tories, which call on the council’s scrutiny committee to fully examine the matter before it goes before the full council.
This could delay the matter into next year.
Opponents fear the removal of powers from area committees could have a detrimental impact on grass-roots issues affecting communities.
Fife Council minority Labour administration leader Alex Rowley has repeatedly stated that the status quo is unsustainable and the shake-up is about redirecting area committees towards their communities.
The proposed change is also strongly supported by Fife Chamber of Commerce, as it believes a more efficient planning structure would make business easier.
But last night it emerged that elected members had apparently been given conflicting advice on the legalities of a call in.
Councillor John Beare, the SNP spokesperson on planning issues, said Liberal Democrat leader Tim Brett and Tory leader Dave Dempsey had both been advised in the past few days that if a call in was lodged, the report would be pulled from tomorrow’s agenda, allowing further scrutiny.
But Mr Rowley told The Courier last night he had been legally advised that a call in was not valid because the final decision was always going to be made by the full Fife Council.
Call-ins to the scrutiny committee, he said, were only valid when the final decision lay with the executive committee, which was not the case here.
Last night Mr Beare hit back, stating: ”Councillor Rowley is now hiding behind obscure elements of the council’s standing orders which he himself proposed in May.
”All he has to do is to agree to support a suspension of standing orders on Thursday and this can then be referred to the relevant scrutiny committee.
”The choice is his, he can allow the scrutiny system he established to carry out its work or he can ignore the wishes of the communities of Fife.”
Mr Beare believes it is in the interests of Fife’s communities, residents and businesses that the centralising proposals of the executive committee are given the fullest examination before they come to full council and are subjected to proper detailed scrutiny and not just ”railroaded” through the Labour-dominated executive committee.
Mr Beare said the recommendation made by the executive committee last Thursday for new planning committees based on West, Central and North East Fife were a ”complete failure of the Labour Party, to listen to the near unanimous objections of local communities, the 34 community councils who oppose these measures or the fact that the majority of Fife councillors did not support this option”.
Mr Beare said the proposed model would ”ensure the removal of accountability, a reduction in access by the public and, crucially, a removal of local knowledge and expertise”.
At last week’s executive committee, Mr Rowley said it was not in the interests of best value to have council officials running between area committees.
Councillors with an interest in planning would now have the opportunity to become ”experts” on planning, he said.
It would also make Fife a more attractive place for companies to do business.