A RESIDENT of Shaw Street suffered “stinking” bins after their rubbish was not collected for several weeks.

The objection was one of 280 received by Fife Council for the Dunfermline area in the last year.

The householder received a full apology for the lapse after having their complaint upheld.

They had written: “Total disgrace and health issue the fact our brown bins in Shaw Street, Dunfermline, have not been emptied now in four weeks, after two confirmations from the council to say they would empty within five working days.

“Today emailed and again now being told they won’t be emptied until next collection date in two weeks. Surely this is an environmental health issue. The bins are stinking.”

Members of the City of Dunfermline Area Committee were given an outline of the year’s complaints with another example being a gripe about the poor condition of a road which was again upheld by the local authority.

An unnamed Dunfermline resident wrote: “I have reported the same road fault three times in just over one year.

"Each time I reported the fault I received a reply advising the fault would be fixed within five days, the road had been sprayed with yellow paint however the fault has still not been repaired.”

An apology was offered and a subsequent safety inspection revealed patching work needed to be done which was placed in the works schedule.

In his report to Dunfermline councillors, Mike Enston, executive director for communities, said responsiveness to complaints in target timescales had improved.

“The average working days to respond also improved and this is important as a key driver of satisfaction,” he said. “The issues customers complained about within the City of Dunfermline area are broadly like those made across Fife as a whole, however there were proportionally more complaints for roads and transportation where the category with the most complaints was potholes/poor condition of the road surface.

“While there has been some progress on addressing the root causes of complaints and applying some appropriate corrective action, the escalation and resolution team strive to facilitate more significant improvements over the coming year yet remain focussed upon responsiveness.

“It is anticipated that work involved to introduce the newly refreshed complaint procedure (for April 2021) will provide a renewed impetus for the council to consider improvements within the drivers of satisfaction associated with complaints handling, including responsiveness.”