A 56-year-old woman dragged herself from her hospital bed to protest against plans to replace a community pavilion that burned to the ground in a deliberate blaze.
Roberta Smith, 56, has been in Ninewells Hospital for six weeks suffering from endocarditis.
But she convinced doctors to let her out for the afternoon so she could voice her disgust at Dundee City Council’s proposals to replace the Mill o’ Mains pavilion, which was destroyed by fire in the summer of 2017.
She joined fellow residents at the protest outside the Mill O’Mains sheltered housing complex on Monday.
Roberta said: “I came out of hospital for three hours to support the kids and my community.
“I’ve got endocarditis – bugs on the heart – and have been in hospital for six weeks and have got another three weeks to go. But I had to come and show my support so they gave me a pass out.
“The kids and pensioners in Mill O’Mains have got nowhere to go.”
Dundee City Council has put forward three suggestions for ways to replace the pavilion.
Only one involves a dedicated new building, but this would require residents to find ways to pay for it themselves after leasing land from the council for £1 a year.
The other proposals are using existing buildings such as schools and the sheltered housing complex on Foula Terrace, or building an extension to Mill o’ Mains Primary School for community use.
Pavilion committee chairwoman Yvonne Mullen led yesterday’s protest.
She said: “There is just total frustration in the community at these options.
“They are saying they would do a community asset transfer for us but at the end of the day but we don’t have money to build a new pavilion. We’re parents and grandparents.
“How can we afford to fund a new building?”
She said former Labour North East councillor Brian Gordon, who had been at the forefront of efforts to rebuild the pavilion before his death in February, would have been angry at the options being presented to residents.
She said: “Brian would not have agreed to the proposals.
“They have ripped the heart out of the community.”
The campaigners are also furious that the insurance they had for the building has not been used to fund a replacement.
Dundee City Council said it could not be used because the group did not have ownership of the pavilion.
There is also anger that a temporary building, approved in June last year, has still not been set up.
Dundee City Council said last week it had put the only “sustainable” options for replacement out to consultation.
A spokesman said: “People living in Dalclaverhouse, Emmock Woods and Mill o’ Mains are being asked for their choice from three options that have been put forward following an options appraisal on the need for a new build community facility.
“Ward councillors and council officers met to look at the long list of options and unanimously agreed that there were only three options which were sustainable and these should be taken out to the whole community for consultation.
“The choice of residents will be presented to the city council’s neighbourhood services committee to be taken forward.”
