A former Dundee councillor has called for an investigation into the decision to demolish three West End tenements.
Jimmy Black, the former SNP councillor for Coldside, wants the city council’s scrutiny committee to look at the decision made in October to demolish the tenements at 219 to 245 Blackness Road.
A report submitted to the neighbourhood services committee in October claimed a majority of “residents” favoured demolition of the blocks.
A freedom of information request submitted by Mr Black revealed six private landlords who do not live there were counted as “residents,” something he said was “seriously misleading”.
A further Freedom of Information request has uncovered the cost of repairing the roof was included in the total bill for bringing the tenements up to scratch, even though that work was not deemed necessary.
Mr Black said: “Councillors were told in October 2017 that ‘the roofs have reached the end of their useful life and require to be replaced, there are several roof leaks at present and tenants have had to be decanted’.
“Under Freedom of Information I asked for all the relevant engineers’ reports. In 2015 engineers inspected the roofs and reported ‘no defects were observed other than a few missing roof slates’.
“There was also minor cracking in the west chimney of 229-237. An updated report in September 2016 made no mention of the roofs.
“The engineers also reported leaking downpipes and gutters, with damage to stonework, and damp walls close to the leaks. These are all matters which are the responsibility of the council. Nonetheless the engineers described the three blocks as ‘generally in a fair condition’.
Mr Black added: “I also asked for more detail on the figures presented to the councillors at the meeting when they unanimously agreed to demolition.
“They were given costings relating to ‘rebuild the stairwells’. But as it turns out, a more accurate heading would have been ‘rebuilding the stairwells and re-roofing the tenements.’
“The figures quoted included £40,000 for re-roofing each of the blocks, whether they needed it or not. With contingencies and professional fees, reroofing the blocks added a total of £149,730 to the quoted costs for rebuilding the stair towers.
“It might be that reroofing the tenements is desirable. But on the basis of these engineers’ reports, there is nothing to say reroofing is essential at this time.”
Mr Black also said the engineers’ report from 2015 said it would only cost £100,000 to repair the stair towers, plus design fees, contingencies and the cost of decanting tenants.
He said: “In 2017 the minimum cost quoted was eight times greater at £880,000. What happened in between?”
Anne Rendall, depute convener of Dundee’s neighbourhood services committee, said: “The committee unanimously took the decision to demolish this block of flats and replace it with new energy efficient housing fit for the 21st century.
“This decision was not taken lightly but, we believe that this significant investment in new housing stock will be of great benefit for people in the area for decades to come. We are keeping residents up to date on developments.”
Labour councillor Kevin Keenan, convener of the scrutiny committee, said a councillor would need to lodge a formal motion calling for it to look into the decision before it could begin any probe.
