Councillor congratulates landfill firm on early completion of capping

Andy Heer, Conservative councillor for the Howe of Fife and Tay Coast has congratulated landfill operator Fife Resource Solutions on the early completion of the project to cap the landfill cell at Lower Melville Wood near Ladybank which has been causing so many complaints.

“This has been the cause of many complaints about smell for the last few years and it has been especially bad since last summer,” he explained.

“SEPA ordered the cell to be capped by early March but the weather precluded this being possible. They then extended the deadline into April and I am delighted to learn today that the capping has been completed two weeks ahead of the deadline. The final sealing around the edges of the cap was finished yesterday and all 13 gas well are connected into the gas collection system and functioning.”

“This is an extraordinary achievement in the current conditions with over 40% of staff absent due to the Corvid-19 pandemic and the team at FRS deserve congratulations.”

“Let’s hope that this is an end to the horrendous smell. It is especially important now while people are confined to their houses and wishing to be able to get into their gardens for fresh air.”

SNP already due to miss affordable homes target

The Scottish government has confirmed that it will miss its targets on affordable homes, fuel poverty and energy efficiency measures.

The Scottish Conservatives have stated that, even without the impact of Covid19, the SNP government was on course to miss its affordable homes target of 50,000 houses by May 2021.

In a Scottish parliamentary written answer Kevin Stewart, Minister for housing stated that due to the ‘effective lock down’ it is necessary to have a ‘pause in the delivery of affordable homes.’

However, the latest figures show that between April 2016 and December 2019 31,000 homes had been completed. In addition, at present 9,000 new homes are being completed in Scotland per year.

These figures suggest that even with a final surge the SNP were on course to miss their own target by at least 4,000 homes.

Graham Simpson, Scottish Conservative shadow housing and communities secretary said:

“This is understandably frustrating, particularly for those waiting for a home.

“The fight against Covid19 is affecting every part of Scottish life and it is right that we put people first and do everything possible to stop the spread of this virus.

“However, the SNP was already on course to miss the affordable homes target by some margin.

“Missing these important targets is extremely disappointing and will obviously hit the most vulnerable hardest.”

ENDS

Notes to editors –

Housing Statistics Quarterly update, March 2020 can be found here - https://www.gov.scot/publications/housing-statistics-scotland-quarterly-update-march-2020/

The number of completions can be found here - https://www.gov.scot/news/more-homes-available/

The full answer can be found here –

James Dornan (Glasgow Cathcart) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Government what impact COVID-19 will have on the delivery of (a) the 50,000 affordable homes target by the end of this parliamentary session, (b) fuel poverty targets and (c) energy efficiency measures.

S5W-28177

Kevin Stewart: The impacts of COVID-19 and our response to managing the risks it presents are evolving daily.

With the impact of the ‘effective lock down’ there is clearly going to be a necessary pause in the delivery of affordable homes at what is a critical time in the target period when the final site starts were scheduled to proceed. Once normal activity has resumed we will be clearer about the full effect this will have on the timing of the delivery of these homes. However it is unlikely we will now meet the target by the end of March 2021. This is of course disappointing as we were on track to deliver on our 50,000 affordable homes commitment, but our priority now of course is the health and wellbeing of the Scottish people and keeping people safe.

Many of the households affected by fuel poverty are also most clinically vulnerable to COVID-19. Alongside the practical considerations relating to social distancing measures this has led us to a decision to pause work on our energy efficiency schemes during the outbreak. Resources are being prioritised to help enable people to heat their homes and to tackle emergencies, such as broken boiler systems. Unfortunately this will delay delivery of our energy efficiency programmes and other planned work. We are also delaying work to publish our Final Fuel Poverty Strategy to focus on providing the immediate support required by fuel poor households impacted by Covid-19 and ensuring that there can be a prompt re-start to our programmes when it is safe and feasible to do so.