Council must reach out

Sir – Councillor Dominic Nolan is absolutely right is his criticism of the shortage of time given by Fife Council to people to register to vote in the upcoming community council elections.

This criticism was dismissed by Mike Melville, electoral services manager.

As secretary of Ceres and District Community Council I raised this with Fife Council last week who told me the all Fife residents on the voters roll will be able to vote and/or stand in the forthcoming CC election and those not on the roll would have to register.

So how are those not on the roll to know that?

Fife Council seem to be depending on community councils to notify everyone in their parish of voting age, not on the roll, to register.

It was suggested that we notified such members of the public via a newsletter or put a notice on our community notice board.

We were not able to do either and in any case there is no way that would capture everyone not on the roll so there would still be people losing their right to vote.

The only way for this to be done properly is by mailing every house in Fife with a card inviting those not on the roll to register, either by post or online, or even better visiting the electoral services manager at Fife Council.

Graham Lang. Westermost, Coaltown of Callange, Ceres.