A Dundee councillor claims he was silenced when raising concerns about a new £100m school — the highest tender ever approved by the local authority.
The new East End Community Campus will be built at Dumgeith Road, replacing two schools in poor condition, Braeview and Craigie.
The council’s policy and resources committee approved the new increased cost on Monday, meaning the value of the tender has risen hugely from the original £60m.
But in the lead up to the vote Liberal Democrat councillor Fraser Macpherson was told his question asking why no swimming pool was included in the design could not be heard by the committee.
Council leader and convener of the committee, John Alexander, told Mr Macpherson that the point of discussion was the £100m in costs, not the design of the project.
A heated exchange followed, as Mr Macpherson insisted that his question be heard.
‘A £100m tender’
Mr Alexander stressed he didn’t deem Mr Macpherson’s question to be “relevant” as there had been a planning application and process.
The West End representative was heard angrily repeating that the decision was “utterly disgraceful”.
After several minutes of interruptions by both members, the exchanges reached a final flashpoint over the massive costs at stake.
Mr Alexander asked his colleague to “please respect the chair” and managed to wrestle back control of the discussion, Mr Macpherson claims his microphone was “repeatedly switched off” during the row.
‘Clarification needed’
Following the meeting, Mr Macpherson said the question about a pool “needed clarification” before the tender was agreed.
This was, he said, because pupils supported having a pool during a community consultation.
He added: “It is very disappointing that the new school and community campus won’t have swimming facilities when both of the existing schools have pools.
“Dundee City Council has a poor record on swimming facilities as the Olympia debacle highlighted.
“A £100m plus tender is a huge sum of public money and it is shocking that the SNP try to close down questions they don’t like about how this money is spent.”
‘Genuinely perplexed’
On Tuesday, Mr Alexander said he was “genuinely perplexed” by Mr Macpherson’s “conduct.”
Responding to the question at committee on whether he had “shut down questions”, he emphasised that all members that asked questions were given answers.
He continued: “At no point during the previous committee meetings or the actual planning application did Councillor Macpherson seek the inclusion of a pool.
“He, quite literally, is blaming my group for a unanimous decision which he supported and so, his words don’t bear any relation to reality.”
He added: “His belligerent conduct was unbecoming for a councillor of his experience. I hope that he reflects on his lack of composure at Monday’s meeting.”
He concluded: “Claiming that asking officers to provide him with a detailed written response to his question is somehow ‘silencing’ him is laughable. He also stated at the beginning that he had already asked the question last week and received a response.”
Robertson Construction Tayside will undertake the construction after the committee approved the tender.
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