Have I got this right? One week, Dundee’s city councillors are fawning over some wee boy from Westminster for the gift of £20 million “levelling up” money – the next week the city can’t find £500,000 to keep three well-loved facilities open?
Is it just me confused?
The fate of Mills Observatory, Caird Park Golf, and Broughty Castle is shaping to be another shameful episode in Dundee history.
Councillors are custodians, not gods with life or death powers over the city’s assets.
Their remit is to pass the city on, intact or improved, to the next generation.
And I cast my scorn upon their “consultation”. It is a pretence, a distraction. It won’t even be read by decision-makers.
Anyway, I question the usefulness of any consultation that asks “Are you straight or gay” and “Do you consider yourself trans?” What does that have to do with an observatory, museum or golf course?
Surely more germane questions would be: are you interested in local sport, history, or astronomy?
I ask the council to explain this, please.
Back to the point: £20m comes in, but one-fortieth of it can’t be used to save three long-standing Dundee attractions.
This goes to the heart of a thing that always annoys me: the failure of the council to stand up and say: “This isn’t right.”
They meekly do whatever they are told, and their apologists applaud.
Do they not have the feist to go back to wherever cash comes from, and point out: “Dundee’s needs aren’t best served by what you propose”?
Isn’t politics about negotiation?
When the government fella slithered into town, smirking with his £20m gift, he should have been told: “Thanks pal, but we decide what’s best our city.”
Same for Sustrans money frittered on active travel routes. We’ll take the money – it’s raised from taxes after all – but we want more power over what Dundee does with £230m.
No one on the tired, unimaginative council raises questions like this.
Far from growling at the Westminster toady, they rolled over and had their tummies tickled.
Councillors should have been in the paper that day, front page, shouting “unacceptable” and demanding more say on what was happening.
Yes, it might not work – I’m not naïve. All I ask is that a challenge is made.
Someone must fight for Dundee
That someone says “can we think about this differently?” It can’t be worse than a “yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir” approach.
When we didn’t get £80m investment zone status last year, the same attitude prevailed – no effective action from councillors.
Who is fighting for Dundee? Who is demanding Dundee gets its rightful share? What’s the point of being a councillor if you won’t do that?
When closure of the three attractions is debated in council let’s count how many in the SNP ruling group are principled enough to resign in protest at the closures.
The convener and depute of the infrastructure committee will be first to go, obviously, but surely there will be five or six further resignations?
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