The head of Dundee’s housing committee has admitted the council should have consulted with the city’s tenants association before pressing ahead with plans to demolish 26 flats.
The flats at 219 -245 Blackness Road are to be razed to the ground following a decision by councillors in October 2017.
The decision was taken because the council say the stairwells are deteriorating and will become a risk to the public within the next three years.
However, the move has been riddled with controversy after it was revealed some tenants living in the blocks were not consulted.
Council officials claimed a majority of residents backed the plans but a freedom of information request revealed that six private landlords who do not live there had been counted as “residents”.
Eight people voted in favour of refurbishing the flats and 14 in favour of demolition, but of those 14, six were private landlords and three were owner-occupiers.
Anne Rendall, the current convener of the council’s Neighbourhood Services Committee, has now conceded the Dundee Federation of Tenants Association (DFTA), should have played a role in the decision.
She said: “The Scottish Housing Regulator’s opinion is that the federation should have been informed, and we conceded that with hindsight we should probably have consulted with them as well as the consultations we carried out directly with tenants.
“Our view however is still that these flats are at the end of their useful lives and are to be demolished.
“We place a high value on tenant participation and we have met with DFTA who are happy with our suggestions for revised consultation proposals for the future where there are any plans to demolish council homes.”
Former housing convener Jimmy Black, who has previously said the decision “makes no sense”, welcomed the concession.
He said: “I believe the Tenants Federation did not know about the planned destruction of these homes until it was too late.
“Had they known, they could have organised independent, expert advice for the tenants who lived in the blocks.
“Tenants would not have been asked to make decisions about the future of their homes without experts on their side.”
A spokesperson for the DFTA said: “The DFTA recognise that we should have been consulted prior to the decision on Blackness Road demolition being considered.
“We would have ensured that tenants affected had a chance to meet with us and had access to independent advice.
“However we are aware that the tenants and owners directly involved were consulted and that the vote taken by them showed a clear preference for demolition.
“We support the provision of additional high quality council homes in this area and look forward to seeing this happen.
“We are currently working with Dundee City Council to ensure we are involved in consultations in the future.
“Tenants groups are a very important way for tenants to ensure that they can have their say – if anyone is interested in setting one up, please get in touch with us.”
