The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Councillor hits out as fire-damaged flat lies empty for six months
Property remains boarded up despite more than 100 people waiting for place to live in town
A fire-ravaged council flat has lain empty in Tayport for six months while more than 100 people wait for a house in the town.
Councillor Tim Brett blasted the length of time taken to even agree on repairs to be conducted to the property in Ogilvy Place.
The two-bedroom ground floor flat was badly damaged in the blaze in April and remains boarded up.
No one was hurt in the incident but the home was left in an uninhabitable state and it will be November before it is ready for new tenants.
Mr Brett, Liberal Democrat representative for Tay Bridgehead, said: “Since the end of April I have been asking the housing service when repairs will be undertaken.
“It has taken five months for the council’s loss adjusters to agree to the repairs that need to be carried out and I find this is unacceptable.
“There are 1,674 people on the housing waiting list in north-east Fife alone and well over 100 people are waiting for a house or flat in Tayport.”
Mr Brett said there appeared to be no system for the housing service to check on progress, although he understood new procedures were being put in place.
He said: “I have written to the head of housing and the director of finance asking them to ensure that there is a much quicker response when dealing with this type of issue in future as we need to make every effort to ensure that when this type of incident occurs that repairs are undertaken as quickly as possible so that a new tenant can be offered the property.”
John Mills, head of the council’s housing services, acknowledged there had been a significant delay in the process for costing and beginning repairs.
He said: “After investigating the delay in starting the reinstatement works at this two-bedroom ground floor property it would appear that a misunderstanding of process approval within housing services was the main cause of delay.
“A complete review of the process is under way to ensure that this does not happen in future.
“Our intention is to start the work on Monday October 29 and have it completed by Friday November 30.”
We need to make every effort to ensure that when this kind of incident occurs that repairs are undertaken as quickly as possible. COUNCILLOR TIM BRETT