Moray MP Douglas Ross has raised concerns after being contacted by a constituent in Forres who is still waiting to have interlinked fire alarms connected in her house after five months.
Douglas was first contacted by the concerned constituent in February this year after the SNP Government brought in new legislation on 1 February.
Despite repeated concerns being raised by the Scottish Conservatives in the Scottish Parliament the SNP pressed ahead with making it law that every household had to have interlinked fire alarms.
When the constituent who lives in a block of flats in Forres contacted Douglas’ office the council informed him that they would need a building warrant to enter the block of flats.
However, five months on the resident has still not had any update on how this situation is progressing.
Douglas says this resident “cannot be left in the dark” any longer and officials at Moray Council must clarify if they are going to be able to install the interlinked fire alarms at this building.
He added that this was an example of how the SNP’s new law could “come unstuck” in reality as they failed to ensure that householders were made aware, and councils had enough resources in place to deal with issues such as this arising.
Moray MP Douglas Ross said: “It is worrying that officials at Moray Council have still not been able to provide any update to this local resident after five months.
“The SNP rushed through this legislation back in February despite repeated concerns raised by my party over a lack of awareness and councils not having the infrastructure to carry out this work, especially after years of the SNP cutting council budgets.
“Having told my constituent that they needed a building warrant to enter the block of flats in February, there has been a wall of silence since. It is little wonder that this resident is concerned about the lengthy delay and wants to know what the council are planning.
“The SNP insisted this law had to happen when it did, but situations like this one were always going to arise and councils need greater support from ministers to deal with them.
“The onus is on council officials to engage with householders before they take any action and explain how they are going to carry out work.
“That would represent a positive step in the right direction after months of residents being completely unaware if they were ever going to have these interlinked fire alarms fitted.”
