By Bruce Robbins

DUNDEE’S PLANNING convener Will Dawson last night promised that the redeveloped city waterfront will have a human face that people can relate to.

Councillor Dawson was responding to concerns voiced by the City Centre and Harbour Community Council, whose members fear the ambitious project is about to be taken over by big business.

The community council said that the waterfront masterplan has moved from a vision of wide-open civic spaces that would re-connect the city centre with the river to a desire to fill the extensive space with office blocks.

However, the convener denied the focus has shifted and pledged that the original idea of a welcoming waterfront was still the driving force behind the regeneration.

He said, “The human element has always been an important part of it.

“We will have a big civic space and a mix of businesses, flats and commercial enterprises, just like the city centre is now.

“I think the problem that some people may have is that there’s no real design on the ground yet—what we have at the moment is a vision.

“That’s why we want to get the City Centre and Harbour Community Council involved on the waterfront design advisory group.

“There’s been no need to convene it until now, because there hasn’t been anything substantial to talk about.”

The community council’s survey of around 100 people found that 94% of them wanted a substantial area of the waterfront left for leisure and parkland.

Although there is provision in the waterfront plan for civic areas, planners and land owners at the waterfront have to approach the development on a commercial basis.

That is why the council believes there must be a commercial aspect to some of the developments.

The community council has been critical of other aspects of the development, including the siting of the Dundee One building, which the body described as a “high office block.”

Community council vice-chairman Brian Massie claimed this land was once part of the central waterfront but had been re-designated as City Quay by the council’s planning director to avoid a height restriction in place on the waterfront site.

Mr Galloway rejected the accusation, stressing that Dundee One—part of which will be occupied by the forensic science lab—is not and never has been part of the central waterfront project.

Mr Galloway said, “The masterplan proposes that a third of the floor space in the waterfront will be housing, a third will be leisure/commercial and a third will be offices.

“This type of mix is exactly the same as one finds in other very popular and attractive waterfronts across the world and by no means would it result in Dundee being dominated by office developments.

“The masterplan also proposes that substantial areas of the waterfront will be set aside as open space in a variety of forms and functions for the public to enjoy.

“The proposed new green square at the heart of the area will be four times the size of the existing City Square, the proposed Station Square will be twice its size and the central water feature will be three times its size.”

Mr Galloway said the Dundee One land is not owned by the Waterfront Partnership and, therefore, there was no ability for the project to impose any restrictions on that development.

He added, “In any case, the masterplan seeks to create a medium-rise scale of development in the waterfront to match the historic character of the adjacent city centre.”

The planning director said the council will invite participants to join the design advisory group for its first meeting in August, and Mr Massie will receive an invitation to join the group and contribute to its work.