Community Council help secure chewing gum removal machine
Following a consultation process through 2023 and 2024, St Andrews Community Council submitted the St Andrews Local Place Plan (LPP) to Fife Council. Submitting the plan to Fife Council is not the end of the journey – it is just the beginning. To ensure that the ideas and priorities outlined in the LPP do not simply sit on a shelf, the Community Council has established a Community Action Plan (CAP) to track, highlight and encourage progress on the goals identified by residents.
The Community Council considered ways to collaborate more with a range of departments in Fife Council that support St Andrews. Neil Cunningham Dobson and Carol Scambler met with Sandy Anderson, a key Fife Council Service Manager in Waste Management Operations. Sandy explained how waste management in relation to the town was managed. Interested to hear how Sandy’s team supports St Andrews and the challenges they face, Carol and Neil discussed how the Community Council and Sandy’s team could work together.
One of the areas that has been an issue is chewing gum on street pavements in the town centre and in residential areas. Sandy was able to identify a fund through Keep Britain Tidy that welcomed applications for gum removal kits. Supporting Sandy’s hard work with a funding application, Fife Council were successful in obtaining three sets of mobile backpack gum removal cleaning machines. Fife Council waste management staff have been specifically trained to use these – a rota is now in place for a timetable of gum removal in the town centre and residential areas. The gum removal machines are primarily for St Andrews but may be used elsewhere in Fife.
The Community Council has praised Sandy Anderson and the Fife Council Waste Management team for their work in bringing this initiative to St Andrews.
This successful collaboration has delivered a practical, visible, result for the town and demonstrates what can be achieved when the Community Council and Fife Council work together.
Further updates on joint work with Fife Council’s Waste Management team will be announced in due course.
Left – right: Carol Scambler, Sandy Anderson, Neil Cunningham Dobson.
