An online chat inspired by a fly-on-the-wall documentary about Fife Council saw the local authority’s leader quizzed on everything from anti-social behaviour to potholes.
Cllr David Ross took questions from members of the public in a live Facebook discussion in the wake of BBC One show The Council, which followed frontline workers on the streets of the kingdom.
None of the requests related to the hit show, which has been both praised and pilloried for its portrayal of Fife, its people and its council employees.
However, many related to issues raised by the first episode in the three-part series, including availability of housing, the condition of roads and public spending.
Linda Lawson Waddell stated: “There is a need to build more social housing by the council. I don’t mean affordable as the biggest percentage of people couldn’t afford these anyway.”
Mr Ross replied: “By May next year, we will have built 1250 council houses and we’re below the Scottish average rent.”
He also said there was an understanding of the need to build larger family homes across the kingdom but admitted that the number of new build homes fell short of the requirement of Fife’s development plan.
When Alexander Wilkinson said that antisocial behaviour needed to be tackled, he was told by Mr Ross: “Overall, I’m pleased that antisocial behaviour is falling in Fife as we work with Police Scotland to tackle the issue.
“We’ve contacted the Scottish Government and asked them to speed up the procedure that would let the council take people to court for serious cases of antisocial behaviour.”
Iain Duff posted: “Pot holes and road conditions are terrible. Why has the budget for this been cut yet again?”
His reply was: “The capital investment in roads has remained steady over recent years.
“In the current year we had to make a temporary reduction in the maintenance budget because of an additional £17m cut in our grant from the Scottish Government.
“We therefore had to quickly prioritise our remaining budget. This is exactly what we mean about the tough choices we have to make. “
In answer to a concern about closing schools, such as Pitcorthie Primary School, in Dunfermline, Mr Ross wrote: “We have limited investment to improve our schools and we want it to be used to greatest effect.
“Although we understand the attachment that some have to individual schools, we need to address the problem of a high number of surplus places by closing a small number of schools so we can concentrate investment.
“It’s my understanding that Pitcorthie pupils have settled very well into their new school.”
Other issues debated included hate crime, drug dealers, council house refurbishments and public consultation.
