Council rapped over £100,000 Common Good Fund spend in Burntisland

A controversial decision to use Burntisland’s Common Good Fund to pay for a replacement electricity supply for the town’s showmen has been criticised.

Audit Scotland has told Fife Council the 2019 decision should be reviewed.

It said Kirkcaldy Area Committee lacked important information when it agreed to spend £100,000 from the fund on the repairs which caused widespread anger in the town.

Showmen had warned they would “abandon” the town’s popular summer fair at Burntisland Links, if they had to use diesel generators instead of a mains supply of electricity.

The committee controversially agreed to cover £100,000 of the £160,000 bill through the Common Good Fund - with the additional costs from the council - to ensure that the annual shows were preserved.

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A report from Audit Scotland said the committee lacked important information and did not properly reference policies- or consult the community before dipping into the tax payer-supplied funds.

A spokesman from Audit Scotland said: “We have recommended that the decision be reconsidered based on full and accurate information.”

The comments came in a report to Fife Council’s standards and audit committee.

Burntisland’s Links are common good property, notionally leased to the council for a nominal rent on a full repairs and insurance (FRI) basis.

The council’s view was that the replacement of the cabling was not simply a repair, and so, some of the cost should come from the Common Good Fund.

However, the review by Audit Scotland stated: “Our review of the paper produced for area committee authorisation found that it [the council’s claim to the fund] included an inaccurate policy reference, did not properly reference the 2014 common good policy, did not mention the FRI basis of the notional lease and did not include the Council’s judgement (that this cost did not constitute a repair under this arrangement).

“As a result, the area committee was not fully informed at the time of reaching its decision to authorise the £100,000 contribution.”

Burntisland Community Council wrote to Audit Scotland and the Financial Ombudsman Service after the 2019 decision, complaining it had not been consulted, and that the money should be spent on other projects.

Alex MacDonald, chairman, said: “It was agreed that replacing the electricity supply was necessary, but raiding the Common Good Fund would be totally unacceptable.”

Councillor Gordon Langlands (Lab, Burntisland, Kinghorn & Western Kirkcaldy) said: “The management of the Burntisland summer fair and its finances has been a contentious issue for many years.

“The change to the Common Good governance in 2014 took a lot of community councillors by surprise- the fact that the officers can actually make a decision to take money out of it, so there’s a wider issue there. ”

“The finances of the agreement between the Common Good Fund and the park’s department remain shrouded in mystery with no accounts available to the public to show what happens to the rent of the showmen which, in a bad year can be £80,000, and in a good year, £120,000.

“Unfortunately, for this year, it’s zero because of Covid so that will cause some financial stress with the parks department.”

Fife Council has appointed officers to implement Audit Scotland’s recommendation and to determine what further action needs to be taken.

> Hannah Brown is the Local Democracy Reporter for Fife & Angus

A follow up into the review will be covered by the council within the next audit report by the end of November.

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