Leader’s online Q&A examines issues raised Documentary: Following BBC One show, David Ross took questions on Facebook

An online chat inspired by a fly-on-thewall documentary about Fife Council saw the local authority’s leader quizzed on everything from anti-social behaviour to potholes.

Councillor David Ross took questions from the public in a live Facebook discussion in the wake of BBC One show The Council, which followed frontline workers on the streets of the kingdom.

Many questions related to issues raised by the first episode in the threepart series, including availability of housing, the condition of roads and public spending.

Linda Lawson Waddell stated: “There is a need to build more social housing by the council. I don’t mean affordable as the biggest percentage of people couldn’t afford these anyway.”

Mr Ross replied: “By May next year, we will have built 1,250 council houses and we’re below the Scottish average rent.”

When Alexander Wilkinson said that anti-social behaviour needed to be tackled, he was told by Mr Ross: “Overall, I’m pleased that anti-social behaviour is falling in Fife as we work with Police Scotland to tackle the issue.

“We’ve contacted the Scottish Government and asked them to speed up the procedure that would let the council take people to court for serious cases of antisocial behaviour.”

Iain Duff posted: “Pot holes and road conditions are terrible. Why has the budget for this been cut yet again?”

His reply was: “The capital investment in roads has remained steady over recent years.

“In the current year we had to make a temporary reduction in the maintenance budget because of an additional £17m cut in our grant from the Scottish Government.

“We therefore had to quickly prioritise our remaining budget. This is exactly what we mean about the tough choices we have to make.”

In answer to a concern about closing schools, such as Pitcorthie Primary School, in Dunfermline, Mr Ross wrote: “We have limited investment to improve our schools and we want it to be used to greatest effect.

“Although we understand the attachment that some have to individual schools, we need to address the problem of a high number of surplus places by closing a small number of schools so we can concentrate investment.”

Pot holes and road conditions are terrible. Why has the budget for this been cut yet again?

Council leader David Ross was quizzed online.