South & West Fife Conservative Councillors Conner Young & Dave Dempsey have called on Fife Council to find ways of speeding up the procedures for cutting back bushes and hedges that block pavements and paths.
Cllr Dempsey said “The present setup waits till someone complains. The Council then writes a polite letter to the householder asking them to cut back the encroaching vegetation. If that doesn’t work, the Council then writes a formal letter, citing the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 and giving the recipient 21 days to comply. As a last resort, the Council does the work and charges the owner.
“ All that takes months. The hedge or bushes do get cut back by the autumn but next spring it all starts again. The public are fed up with this and so are we.”.
Cllr Young said “This process is tediously long and does nothing to bring a permanent solution to this issue. Furthermore, it does nothing to help, for example, people like me with sight issues who wouldn't necessarily be aware of an out of control hedge which could prove very dangerous indeed. Surely there must be a simple solution to this potentially dangerous issue. The council needs to act now”.
Cllr Dempsey added ”We’re talking to the Council about what can be done. One obvious change is to drop the first letter for repeat offenders but hopefully there’s more than that”.