At the recent full Fife Council meeting, Cllr Ross Vettraino, the SNP Convenor of the committee that runs Fife’s re-cycling centres, was asked if the centres would return to pre-covid opening times once the booking system was lifted on 1 Oct.
His reply was “that the opening hours will remain as they were prior to 31stDecember 2019."
Conservative Councillor for Cupar, Tony Miklinski, said, “When I asked the question, I was concsious that residents wanted to return to a full re-cycling service and that lifting the booking system was only one part of that. I wanted confirmation that access to the centres would return to pre-covid levels. Cllr Vettraino’s answer surprised me, so I checked. The reality is very different”.
“At the Cupar site, the number of days the re-cycle centre will be open, going forward, has reduced from 5 days to 2 days; and the number of hours has reduced from 40 to 16.5 hours in Summer, and 36 to 15 hours in Winter. These are massive cuts and they have been taken behind closed doors.”
When challenged, Cllr Vettraino insisted that he answered the questions accurately on the grounds that opening hours were to remain the same. “But he didn’t say that the number of days had been cut by 60%, added Cllr Miklinski, “And I think disingenuous is the best I can say about the response. Needless to say, I will now be pressing for a return to the pre-covid opening hours at Cupar and be seeking a full explanation of this debacle at the next opportunity. The delivery of Public services isn’t a game and Cllr Vettraino’s cavalier behaviour indicates to me that his time as Convenor of a powerful committee is up.”