Inverkeithing & Dalgety Bay Conservative Councillor Dave Dempsey has welcomed a Council Committee’s endorsement of an inquiry into the regeneration of Inverkeithing Town Centre.
Cllr Dempsey said “While the end result of the regeneration project has largely met with public approval, the work dragged out and parts of it still aren’t done, years after it was supposed to be completed. As it progressed, I and my ward colleagues were regularly contacted by members of the public and had to intervene to find out what was happening or get something altered.
“While councillors aren’t supposed to get involved in operational matters, we do have a role in scrutinising performance. Experience says that scrutiny – minute, detailed and searching examination – is best conducted in small groups, outside formal public meetings. To use a police drama analogy, we’re the folk in white suits poring over the crime scene rather than the uniforms disarming the villains.
“With this in mind, I was pleased that the South & West Fife Area Committee approved my proposal to set up an inquiry into the regeneration project. Committee approval gives this a status it wouldn’t otherwise have.
“We’ll be taking reports from and talking to council officers but there’s a role here for the public too. They’ll have their own insights into what worked, what didn’t and what hasn’t happened that was supposed to. It’s important that all that’s fed into the mix, so that any lessons that could be learned are learned.