Mossmorran: Fife Council to push Scottish Government to look at plant's future

And if it doesn’t respond, then the local authority will explore setting up its own board.

The decision was taken following an emergency motion to Thursday’s meeting of the full council.

The statement tabled by councillors Mary Lockhart and Linda Erskine won the day by 39 votes to 28, and will see the local authority push for more action on Fife Ethylene Plant.

It committed Fife Council to reaffirming its call to the Scottish Government to commission an Inquiry into the health and social impacts of operations at both Mossmorran plants.

It called on the Scottish Government to establish a Just Transition Board to examine all options for the short, medium and long term future of the plants - including phased decommissioning.

The motion said that “if the Scottish Government continues to refuse to act, the council will explore setting up a Just Transition Board of its own” to pick up from the now defunct working group set up by Lesley Laird, former Kirkcaldy MP.

Fife in Tier 3: Tougher COVID restrictions will affect everyone

It will also urge Fife’s IJB (Integrated Joint Board) and NHS Fife to set up a dedicated facility to record and monitor the flaring related health complaints of residents.

Councillor David Ross, co leader - who attended one of the recent demonstrations at Mossmorran - said: “Ohers have not done their jobs. We should forget about that and so something ourselves.

“It isn’t the council failing here it is other people the Scottish Government, the company and SEPA are not delivering.”

Thank you for reading this article on our free-to-read website. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a subscription to our print newspaper to help fund our trusted, fact-checked journalism.

https://www.localsubsplus.co.uk/nord/dm/FFP/V