A major project to upgrade the business environment of Dundee city centre has been plunged into uncertainty by the council’s proposal to scrap an important anti-crime initiative.
An urgent meeting of city business leaders is to take place to rescue the Business Improvement District (BID) scheme.
The BID steering group was wrong-footed by the SNP administration’s surprise inclusion of the DUNC.A.N initiative in the £3.3 million package of cuts identified this week.
The steering group had already included DUNC.A.N in its business plan to go to a ballot of traders, office proprietors and landlords. The document containing a range of business improvement measures is about to be circulated to 440 eligible business voters in the designated area inside the Marketgait inner ring road.
The businesses are being asked to vote and pay for the measures at a cost of £330,000 a year for each of five years a total of £1.650 million
The business-funded measures would enhance a raft of schemes that public sector bodies mainly Dundee City Council would guarantee to operate.
The document specifies a list of baseline statements drawn up by the council and Police Scotland, which “will be included in an agreed operating agreement between the BID company and the local authority.”
The section on safety stipulates DUNC.A.N (Dundee Coordinated Anti-crime Network) as one of the priority services to be provided by the city council.
Page 13 of the business plan states: “Dundee is in a privileged position whereby the council provides a city centre management resource worth £190,000 a year, including street ambassadors and the DUNC.A.N anti-crime network.
“A yes vote for Dundee BID will ensure these services are protected in full for the term of the BID and if necessary are challenged to raise standards,” the document pledges.
It explains BID businesses will benefit from free membership of the DUNC.A.N, Radiowatch and Pubwatch schemes that would be improved by broadening the business network.
Businesses would get access to critical information on local and national criminal activity to ensure retail crime remains top priority.
Businesses are told: “An absolutely fundamental part of the BID is that the money raised will only be used to pay for projects that are entirely additional to any services already delivered by Dundee City Council, Police Scotland or other public sector bodies and agencies.
“Your money will not be used to pay for services that the council and others has a duty to provide, statutory or otherwise.”
On Tuesday, however, council finance convener Willie Sawers unveiled a £3.3m package of savings the administration proposed to balance the authority’s budget for 2014-15.
These included the cessation of DUNC.A.N to save £54,000 a year.
The scheme’s demise will be seen as a disappointment to many in the city centre retail sector as it was credited with reducing crime.
It cut the number of anti-social behaviour and criminal incidents and reduced fear of crime through its partnership approach businesses reporting suspicious activity to the council and the police for effective action.