A CALL has been made to cut down issues with overgrown hedges across West Fife.

Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay councillor Dave Dempsey has contacted Fife Council to highlight the recurring issue of greenery growing across pavements, asking why it takes so long for them to be cut.

“We’ve all seen instances of hedges that, in the spring, grow out to block pavements, pushing pedestrians out onto the road and even round the outside of parked cars. It’s particularly bad for folk in wheelchairs or pushing prams or buggies," he explained.

"There’s a mechanism for dealing with this. It’s an option on Fife Council’s system for reporting road faults. The public use it but then they wait. And wait. And wait. Sometimes for months.

“That’s because the Council’s first move is to write to the owner of the hedge and wait for them to take action. They may even write a second time.

"They then have the right to do the work and charge the owner, though it’s unclear how often that happens. Regardless, the net result is ineffective. Pavements remain unusable throughout the summer."

Cllr Dempsey said he has written to the council administration spokesperson whose remit cover this and was told it would be looked into.

"I look forward to a big improvement," he added. "It’s perhaps not the biggest issue in Fife but neither is it the hardest to solve. There’s nothing wrong with getting the little things right."

Cllr. Jan Wincott, Fife Council’s Environment and Climate Change spokesperson, said they have processes in place to maintain vegetation growing on land owned or maintained by the council.

“We expect that hedges and other vegetation at private properties will be maintained by the owner," she added.

"We’ll investigate any reports of obstructions made by a member of the public and attempt to contact the owner to remind them of their responsibilities and discuss when they’ll be able to cut back the hedge.”