SO Alex Rowley, the MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife, has finally decided to write to the Scottish Government to ask for an independent review "into the workings, processes and current condition of Fife Ethylene Plant at Mossmorran".

People have been raising concerns about Mossmorran for years.

Mossmorran has been given to bouts of emergency flaring for years. And local residents have been contacting Mr Rowley with their worries for years, both in his previous capacity as a constituency MSP and as a councillor.

And of course Mr Rowley lives in Kelty, so he can hardly have been unaware of the plant and its impacts.

Why on earth didn't Mr Rowley do something about the situation before? Why wasn't it top of his agenda when he led Fife Council?

When it comes to writing letters to the Scottish Government, which grab headlines but which Mr Rowley knows will be ineffectual, the MSP has prior form.

He notoriously took the side of Fifers beleaguered by wind energy applications in the run-up to the 2012 elections to write the Scottish Government a one-sentence letter to ask for a moratorium on further wind development. He was met with blank refusal. Once elected his apparent solidarity with residents vanished as he progressed his own plans for wind turbines across Fife.

If Mr Rowley is genuine in wanting to help the people of Central Fife who have been suffering the scourge of Mossmorran for decades, he is going to have to do more than ping an email to the Scottish Government and issue a press release.

LINDA HOLT ? (?Councillor ?)

Dreel House,

Pittenweem,

Anstruther.