After being consulted by a number of constituents recently about alleged breaches of the planning system North East Fife Liberal Democrat MP Menzies Campbell has written to Ronnie Hinds the Chief Executive of Fife Council to establish the position with regard to the Council’s record on planning enforcement.
Commenting Menzies Campbell said: “I appreciate that planning enforcement issues are very often far from straight forward, but it is a matter about which there is significant public interest. I have therefore written to Mr Hinds to establish the current position with regard to this matterâ€.
Ends
Follows is Menzies Campbell’s letter to Ronnie Hinds
Ronnie Hinds
Chief Executive
Fife Council
Fife House
Glenrothes
Fife KY7 5LT 4th February 2008
Dear Mr Hinds,
In December 2004 I had an exchange of correspondence with your predecessor about the ability of the Council to take enforcement action against alleged breaches of the planning system. For ease of reference I enclose a copies of that correspondence.
It would be improper of me to comment in detail about the alleged breach at Fordelhill since it is currently the subject of litigation in Cupar Sheriff Court. But a number of constituents who have written to me about Fordelhill are clearly concerned about the expectations of enforcement in Fife.
May I therefore ask how many enforcement staff are employed? Whether there are any vacancies, and if so how long these vacancies existed? How many cases there have been in the last 12 months for which records are available where enforcement action was requested? How many enforcement notices and stop notices were issued during that period? How many cases were reported to the Procurator Fiscal during that period with a view to prosecution.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely
Menzies Campbell
