Cash-strapped Fife Council has spent more than £90,000 on a wooden fence right beside another fence at its Glenrothes “super-depot”.
Taxpayers have stumped up after the local authority erected “splash back” protection for a vehicle wash at the old Amazon building.
Residents have brandished the outlay “outrageous” considering the council is looking to tackle a £100 million funding gap over the coming four years.
Given the Bankhead facility already has a wire security fence built around its perimeter, residents claim the dual protection makes it seems as if the council has something to hide.
A furious nearby resident, who did not want to be named, said: “They had already spent thousands on a security fence around the perimeter.
“Now they have put a big, wooden fence another 10 feet inside the first fence, which must be costing thousands more. Nobody can understand why, other than Joe Public will not be able to see what the council is getting up to.”
The council bought the Amazon plant for nearly £7 million in 2010 to house a number of council departments including bin collections, building maintenance, grounds maintenance and storage under one roof.
Earlier this year it denied claims made by a local businessman that the Bankhead site was “millions, not thousands, over budget”.
The resident continued: “People are getting fed up. They’re talking about cutting back money for elderly folk and services and charging more for other services. Now they’re spending this sort of money on a fence that is totally unnecessary.
“It must be the best of wood, best of material, the best of steel stations to hold it in place. It’s outrageous, what they’re doing up there. It seems to be never-ending, the money that they’re spending.”
The fences run along the Blackwood Road side of the former Amazon building, which stretches between Thornton and Coaltown of Balgonie.
Fife Council senior manager, property services, Alan Paul told The Courier: “As part of the planning conditions for the vehicle wash, we were required to erect a screen fence to prevent splash-back, which cost £91,000.”