Fife Council has been urged to publicly apologise after wrongly announcing the closure of a local office three days a week.
A post on the local authority’s Our Levenmouth Facebook page on Friday said the Leven customer service centre would only be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from June 4.
The public notice, which has since been deleted, also said anyone requiring welfare or food vouchers would have to travel to the Methil local office.
Friday’s statement came just months after an assurance that rumours of Leven office’s closure were false, prompting fears drastic cuts were being sneaked out via social media.
The council has now given an assurance the facility will remain open five days a week but in-depth appointments and face-to-face inquiries will only be available on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Welfare and food vouchers will also still be available there.
The authority said there were no plans to close either the Leven or the Methil offices.
Local Conservative councillor Graham Ritchie had reacted with anger to Friday’s original post, saying there had been zero consultation with the public or elected members.
“It beggars belief that Fife Council is targeting a town which has already lost so many facilities,” he said.
“I am ashamed that Fife Council is treating people like this.”
Mr Ritchie later welcome the clarification but said the council had been wrong to simply delete its original post along with several outraged comments from the public.
“They have just replaced it with a new post and now people are very confused about what’s happening,” he said.
“They should not be deleting posts. They should be apologising for the distress caused.”
Annette Mizerny, the council’s customer service team leader, said changes were being made at Leven to ensure a range of services could still be provided both there and in Methil.
In-depth face-to-face inquiries will be available at Methil five days a week, as well as at Leven on two days.
“The Leven local office will remain open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and a Saturday morning allowing customers to carry out job searches or access the public PCs in the library, along with light touch inquiries and appointment bookings,” said Ms Mizerny.
