Dalgety Bay is Fife’s “forgotten town” when it come to potholes, a local councillor has claimed.
Dave Coleman says the town has missed out on funding for road and footpath repairs over the years, to the extent that many areas are dangerous or inaccessible.
However, a motion urging Fife Council to map out how they will resolve the issue failed after colleagues said it would be unfair to single out one town over all the others.
The local authority has already pledged £10 million to fix the region’s pothole-ridden roads over the next two years following thousands of complaints.
Mr Coleman, Conservative councillor for Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay, said he received daily grievances from residents.
“Dalgety Bay appears to have been forgotten,” he said.
“The roads and footpaths are deteriorating to such an extent that they are dangerous and, in some cases, can even make areas inaccessible for residents.”
He added: “I receive almost daily constituent complaints regarding the state of the roads and footpaths.
“These complaints often cite damage to vehicles, motorbikes, cycles and so forth.
“Fortunately, to date, I have not received any communications regarding personal injury.”
Dalgety Bay is no better or worse than any other area.”
SNP councillor Alice McGarry.
‘Forgotten town’
Mr Coleman said he was disappointed that colleagues on the south west area committee did not support his motion.
“It went to the vote and it got rejected,” he said.
“For some reason Dalgety Bay has become a forgotten town and while other towns have been resurfaced, or are in line for resurfacing, this one has not.
“I wasn’t wanting to take money away from the already agreed area roads programme.
“What I wanted was a review from the roads department.
“I wanted them to do an inspection, see the problems for themselves and say how they were going to address them.”
Why Mr Coleman’s motion was rejected
Area committee convener Alice McGarry said it would be wrong to single out one town and give it preferential treatment.
“Dalgety Bay is no better or worse than any other area,” she said.
“Officers told us very clearly they could not deliver that and had no intention of doing so.
“It would take people away from more urgent projects.”
The SNP councillor said she viewed Mr Coleman’s motion as incompetent.
“For a motion to be competent, it needs to be deliverable and funded,” she said.
“He had done no work whatsoever. He had just plucked it out of the air.”
Mrs McGarry said the only person who supported the motion was Conservative group leader Dave Dempsey.
“People were not in favour of it at all,” she said.
“Nobody who lives in another ward is going to vote for a motion that gives preferential treatment to one other town.”
Mrs McGarry said officers had agreed to speak to Mr Coleman to hear his concerns.
“If there are potholes in Dalgety Bay, they’ll be attended to.
“That’s the way it works,” she said.
Serious threat to road safety
Last week, a Fife motorists’ group said poor pothole repairs posed a serious threat to road safety.
The local branch of IAM RoadSmart – a charity working to improve driving standards and road safety – warns that road defects and substandard repairs are a “major concern for all road users”.
They say local authorities are “fire fighting” to contain the problem after more than a decade of public spending cuts.
Poor pothole repairs pose serious injury risk says Fife drivers’ group