Over 30 Fife firms have breached environmental licences, with failures including sewage works maintenance and storage of polluted vehicles.
Environmental watchdog Sepa named the 33 firms rated very poor, poor and at risk in the publication of its annual compliance assessment scheme for 2017.
Three in the kingdom rated as very poor were Annsmuir Caravan Park, near Ladybank, J Noble and Son, in Kirkcaldy, and Burnside Motors, Leven.
Maintenance problems with its sewage treatment system led to a licence breach for the caravan park, but Sepa said this had been resolved by an engineering overhaul of the plant.
J Noble and Son continued to store polluting waste vehicles on permeable ground at Randolph Industrial Estate. Owner William Noble was sentenced last year at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court unpaid work for allow his yard at Smeaton Industrial Estate to become a public health hazard.
Burnside Motors, Sepa said, had accepted unauthorised waste.
Upmarket hotels in St Andrews, Fairmont St Andrews and the Old Course Hotel, were among others rated as poor or at risk, as were Kingsbarns Golf Links and Elie Golf Club clubhouse.
Green MSP Mark Ruskell urged businesses licensed by Sepa to “up their game”.
He said: “It’s absolutely essential that businesses and organisations live up to their obligations to protect our natural environment.
“It’s therefore disappointing to see a number of businesses based in Fife have had their environmental compliance deemed not good enough by Sepa.
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“I’d urge all those who have been rated poor or very poor to urgently engage with the regulator to ensure that they deliver improved performance in future years.
“The conditions set down in environmental licenses are important and protect both staff on site as well as communities nearby.
“It’s simply not good enough for any business to fail to live up to its obligations in this regard.”
Terry A’Hearn, chief executive of Sepa, said environmental compliance was non-negotiable.
He said: “Every Scottish business will comply with the law, and we’ll work to ensure as many as possible will go even further.
“We’re also clear that we will not tolerate consistent non-compliance. Our annual compliance report card enables us to systematically identify the compliance issues that need to be tackled in sectors like aquaculture and landfill.
“Local communities will rightly hold us to account if future years do not show an improvement.”
Annsmuir Caravan Park, J Noble and Son and Burnside Motors were all contacted by The Courier but none responded.
