Fife councillor offers help with claims over problem potholes

Cllr David Barratt has been pushing Fife Council to do something with the road defect in Boreland Road for around a year and, despite another temporary fix last week, it is still causing issues for drivers.

Earlier this month, he contacted council officers again but has since heard of another vehicle being damaged after driving over the pothole.

"I called it in as an emergency repair on the Sunday. They chucked some tarmac in to it on the Monday. Then I got a message later that week and someone had just wrecked their tyre on it.

READ MORE: Problem pothole in Inverkeithing set for February fix

"The issue there seems to be is it is quite close to Scottish Water infrastructure and there is something that Scottish Water need to come and repair their manhole covers. So the council has been waiting for them to repair it but, at the same time, the council has got a responsibility to keep the road safe.

"The pothole has been an issue since at least February 2023, although likely predates this. Despite reports of the fault in February, March and April 2023, the Council took until the end of April 2023 to be repaired.

"The repair failed by November 2023. It took until mid-December for the pothole to be repaired again, with the Council acknowledging at this time that the repair was temporary."

Cllr Barratt said he had been told that the pothole was being monitored but is sceptical because of the size of the current defect.

"The crater that emerged, it was enormous. The idea that it is getting monitored. It clearly was not."

Councillor David Barratt (Image: Fife Council)

After putting out an offer on social media to help with any claims paperwork, Cllr Barratt said several drivers have come forward after falling foul of the Boreland Road pothole and one outside Dalgety Bay's Asda store.

"I have had a few people contact me about it and likewise for the one at Asda," he added. "The offer is there. The challenge for anyone who wants to put a claim in is they need to demonstrate that the council knew about it and failed to address it.

"I am more than happy to negotiate the system to help. Even if you try looking for that form on the council website, you struggle to find it."

Fife Council Service Manager, Sara Wilson, said one out of the two potholes has been fixed.

"The Boreland Road repair is currently outstanding as we are awaiting the repair of two manhole covers by the utility company," she said.

"Once this has been completed a permanent surface repair will be undertaken to eliminate further maintenance issues. We will keep the road safe in the mean time with temporary repairs.

"The pothole repair in Fulmar Way was completed on February 16."