Community councils at risk from public apathy

Nominations must be submitted soon

Community councils across Fife are in danger of folding as the deadline for nominations looms.

Only a handful had enough prospective members on Friday and nomination papers must be submitted by 4pm on Thursday.

Out of a possible 105 community councils, only 12 had sufficient nominations to reform and 60 were yet to receive a single nomination.

Fife Council has urged people who want to stand up for their town or village to put their name in the hat before it is too late.

Co-leader Councillor David Alexander said: “Community councils are an important part of giving our communities a voice.

“They can provide us, as councillors

“

The process is also ... complex and cumbersome, requiring nominees, proposers and seconders

and statutory bodies, with the grassroots viewpoint and opinions that are essential to shaping services and making decisions about issues that matter to local people.”

However, the local authority was accused by Councillor Linda Holt of making the process more complicated than that for Fife Council candidates and failing to value community councils.

She said: “The responsibility for the low number of nominations to community councils rests squarely with Fife Council.

“The process is also unnecessarily complex and cumbersome, requiring nominees, proposers and seconders to enter their elector numbers which are only available on paper copies of the electoral register held at local offices, libraries and by some community councils if they have requested one.”

The council’s head of democratic services, Linda Bissett, said: “We’ve advised community councils that we will help check and add elector numbers to a nomination paper if the candidate is unable to establish their own number or those of their proposer and seconder.”

Councillor David Alexander.