There’s mulch ado about nothing in Dunfermline.
While potholes litter the roads, six-foot glaciers loom on street corners and ice threatens to bring down even the most Torvill and Dean-esque of west Fifers, a Dunfermline councillor says he was “absolutely gobsmacked” to learn Fife Council staff were busy spreading mulch on flower beds.
Bill McCulloch, who represents Dunfermline North, said he had learned from Wilma Allday, the chairwoman of Bellyeoman Community Council, that council staff were spending their day putting bark down in frozen plant beds on Robertson Road.
“I am a keen gardener myself but I would have thought it is a bit late in the day to be putting mulch on plant beds, especially when they are frozen solid.
“Isn’t this a job for late autumn?”
He added, “More importantly, I thought that the council’s community service staff were out helping to clear footways in our residential areas which for many people have become no-go areas.
“This surely should be the priority now, especially as more snow is falling and we still have January and February to get through.”
Mr McCulloch said, “Having been up in Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes this week, it seems that they have fared much better than Dunfermline.
“I wonder why that is?”Regular tactics neededMr McCulloch added that he believed he spoke for a lot of people when he said that, while the local authority staff who had been out working on the streets and in communities had been doing a great job, “it is just not enough.”
He said, “I say again that most people live in residential areas which have largely been neglected because they are classified by the council as low priority.
“So we need to think again about how we tackle what might be a regular occurrence of severe weather, if climate change predictions are proved to be right.”
He added, “But above all, we need to get the management of severe weather and snow-clearance right.
“That is why I have written to Ronnie Hinds, the chief executive of Fife Council, asking him to address this situation.”
Mark Horsburgh, the area parks team leader, has spoken to Mr McCulloch to explain the situation.
He said, “The tree squad has been dealing with dangerous trees and chipping them throughout bad weather.
“Excess chips were being recycled in places where they could naturally be used as weed suppressant.”
He added, “Other parks employees are still working with transportation on snow-clearance duties but the dangerous tree squad has to remain working on its own duties.”