Call to 'track the slump' in Dundee
The leader of the major opposition group on Dundee City Council has called for the local effects of the economic slump to be tracked and analysed in preparation for a case being made to central government for the city to be given more support to attract investment.
- By Brian Allison
- Published in the Courier : 29.07.10
- Published online : 29.07.10 @ 02.29pm
Labour councillor Kevin Keenan said he believed local conditions showed a slump was already happening in Dundee and was likely to get worse before it got better.
"These are difficult times for our city when we consider that the council is required to make more than £30 million of cuts in four years," he said. "We also have the uncertainty of further cuts as the UK Government accelerates the deficit reduction programme.
"All this gives me grave concerns that our city's economy will slump further as the effects of these cuts start to bite," he added.
Mr Keenan said it had been stated by the council's SNP administration that £15 million of budget cuts will have to be made next year alone and they are looking to reduce staff numbers to contribute towards the savings.
"With NHS Tayside facing similar cuts and job losses, a struggling construction industry, the computer games industry losing out on tax support and DC Thomson having recently announced that 350 jobs are to go, I would suggest the slump is happening now and has yet to peak," he said.
"We also know that the accelerated spending cuts from Westminster will affect public sector jobs and services like police and fire, further education and civil servant posts, thus making the chance of future civil service jobs for Dundee extremely unlikely."
Mr Keenan said he would be putting a motion to the council immediately after the summer recess ends calling for officers to track the developing economic circumstances in Dundee by collecting data on a range of areas such as the construction industry, how public sector cuts are likely to affect the voluntary and private sectors, job losses and gains in the city, and house prices and volume of sales.
"This information will prove useful to all the council's elected members when it comes to assessing the wider effects of the decisions we have to take," he said.
He pointed out there was usually a ripple effect from cuts with, for instance, job losses affecting not just individuals but the wider economy as people had less to spend on goods and services.
Mr Keenan said the information gathered should be used to statistically back up a call to the governments at Holyrood and Westminster that Dundee be given special enterprise status to support and attract inward investment.
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