Fife Council has rejected claims its “super depot” in Bankhead in Glenrothes is running behind schedule and over budget.
A local businessman, who did not want to be named, contacted The Courier when he saw news of how Fife Council intends to tackle a £100 million funding gap over the coming four years.
He suggested that the Bankhead site was “millions, not thousands, over budget”.
“We cannot believe the time they are taking, this has been going on for months,” he said.
But the local authority said the project was on time and working to its original budget.
The council decided to close seven depots and move to the Bankhead site, a former Amazon plant it bought 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.
Head of asset and facilities management Ken Gourlay said: “Bankhead is a three-year project with three distinct phases.
“Phase one was the purchase of the building itself. Phase two was the transfer of our office-based transportation, environmental services, property and asset staff. That is complete and phase three is the relocation of our seven depots and staff into one. That will be complete by the end of the year.
“The car park is being resurfaced for parking for our commercial fleet vehicles and to provide washing facilities and fuel sites for these vehicles.”
Mr Gourlay added: “A progress report on the project was discussed recently at a meeting of the council’s scrutiny committee. We are on time and working to our original budget of £18.5 million.
“There is a shortfall in the revenue that we anticipated would be generated through the sale of the buildings the council no longer needs.
“However, this is a long-term project and we’re expecting to be back on track over the coming years. It’s important to remember that we were facing a bill of around £7m to maintain our former depots.”