Fife councillor’s comments ‘offensive’ as he claims potholes are being left unfilled

A Fife opposition councillor was accused of being offensive after claiming road workers were ignoring thousands of potholes.

Conservative member Dave Dempsey said members of the public had complained after seeing council staff filling in one pothole but leaving others nearby unfilled.

This meant they had to return to the same site at a later date to repair the remaining damage.

However, Labour’s transportation spokesman Altany Craik claimed Mr Dempsey was denigrating the efforts made on the council’s behalf.

The row broke out at a full Fife Council meeting when Mr Dempsey asked for the typical cost of filling each pothole.

He said: “I hold the slightly eccentric view that the reputation of the council with the public is important and is adversely affected by the public’s observation that the council comes and fills a hole in the road and leaves unfilled the hole in the road a few feet away.

“Does Councillor Craik share my concerns about the reputation of the council?”

‘Our reputation doesn’t need to be impugned in public’

Mr Craik reponded: “The reputation of the council is very important.

“It’s unhelpful to denigrate the efforts they make on our behalf.

“They don’t always go backwards and forwards. That’s offensive.”

The Labour councillor added: “Emergency potholes are done as emergencies and planned patching, otherwise.

“If there are nearby potholes that are of the right status, crews are instructed to fill those at the same time

“I don’t think it’s helpful to suggest its a reputational issue.

“Our reputation doesn’t need to be impugned in public like that.”

More than 50,000 Fife pothole complaints

Last year, the AA branded Fife the pothole capital of Scotland.

And it’s one of the hardest places in the UK to claim compensation for damage to vehicles.

Between April 2021 and May 2022, Fife Council handled a massive 51,534 pothole complaints.

But during the 2020-21 financial year just £597 in compensation was paid out following the processing of 64 claims – 3% of the total claims made.

It costs anywhere between £202 and £59 per square metre to fill a typical Fife pothole.

The final amount depends on whether it is regarded as an emergency and the amount of traffic management needed while the work is being done.

Mr Craik said the roads and transportation service was looking at new ways to manage the co-ordination of pothole repairs.

This is to ensure it’s as effective as possible and to keep costs down.