AN MSP has slammed the state of the roads in Fife as "unacceptable" and called on the council to come clean on how they're going to fix them.

Alex Rowley suggested the local authority were failing in their duty to keep the carriageways safe and questioned the "selective" approach to repairs.

The Mid Scotland and Fife Labour MSP said he was in Oakley recently and was "amazed" at the poor condition of the streets in the village.

He said: "Every door I was on people raised the state of the roads.

"In many communities it is unacceptable and too many people are having their cars damaged.

"I am calling on Fife Council to come up with a costed plan that will get our roads back into a proper state of repair."

Last week the backlog of road repairs in Fife was said to be a whopping £80 million while the Press reported recently that just 11 out of 40 reported potholes in Oakley had been fixed.

Mr Rowley said: "The point of them being selective in what they fix is that the small holes just get bigger and back they have to come again and again.

"In other words what was a small hole one week is a large and damaging one the next.

"Keeping the roads safe is a key function of the council and they need to demonstrate they have the staff and equipment to carry out that function.

"Given the state of some roads it would seem clear that at present they are not equipped to meet their duty to keep the roads safe."

Martin Kingham, service manager for the roads network management, responded: "We understand that people might feel frustrated at the number of defects on our roads, particularly if they see our teams apparently being selective about what’s repaired on their streets.

"In order to ensure the limited resources available for this are used to best effect, we must be selective about what we repair and when, to ensure we do not spend time on low risk defects, while leaving more dangerous potholes unattended elsewhere."

He added: "A number of repairs have been carried out at Hillview and Forth Gardens in Oakley after inspections were prompted by separate reports.

"We are also assessing these streets for more extensive surfacing treatments and until these take place, we’ll continue to regularly inspect them to keep them in safe condition."

Fife Council adopted a new approach in 2020 which involves inspecting the entire road network at set intervals.

If a defect is spotted or reported, it is categorised in terms of the risk it poses to the public.

The most common problem is potholes but issues such as worn road markings, missing signs and ponding are also identified.

The higher the risk, the quicker the response. Location is also taken into account with, for example, bus routes and busy roads a higher priority than small streets within housing estates.

The council say this "helps us to direct our repair teams to places where they are needed most urgently".

'Critical' road defects, the top priority, demand an immediate response and should be repaired within 24 hours.

'High' risk faults should be fixed within five days, 'medium' risk problems are to be dealt with inside three months while those deemed 'low' risk should be tackled within a year.

Defects that are a 'negligible' risk will be inspected to see if any action is required.