A Dundee councillor is calling on the city council to spend more money fixing roads and pavements in the city instead of refurbishing its own buildings.
Derek Scott, who represents the Ferry ward, says he has been inundated with complaints from constituents over the past couple of weeks regarding the state of roads and pavements.
He says the Conservative group’s budget would have seen an extra £5 million spent on roads and pavement maintenance.
That was rejected by the SNP-dominated council in favour of their own budget proposals which included spending large amounts on refurbishing many of the environment department’s 100-plus properties passed through the committee stage earlier this month.
However, following a large number of reports from constituents, Mr Scott wants the administration to look again at its capital budget to allow more money to be spent on roads and pavements.
He said: ”A report came before the council’s city development committee last September which highlighted that in Dundee there is a £22 million maintenance backlog for carriageways and a £5.8 million maintenance backlog for pavements.
”It was stated that the council would require to spend £2.3 million a year on its road network alone just to maintain it at the current condition.
”When the council met to set its budget and capital plan for 2012/16 the Conservative group moved that an additional £3.6 million should be allocated to road reconstructions and a further £1.6 million should be allocated to pavements.
”We proposed that the money should be spent on this rather than on a redevelopment of the environment department headquarters and the creation of operational sub-depots.
”It was not backed the administration did not agree with our proposals and decided to spend the money on the redevelopment.
”In the last couple of weeks the importance of prioritising our roads and pavements has only been reinforced in my mind by the number of constituents I have had contacting me wanting to report potholes and trip hazards across Broughty Ferry.
”I would urge the council to reconsider and spend the money on what the general public certainly believe to be a higher priority. I don’t believe I’ve driven through a Dundee street in the last few months without having to avoid potholes and the council should put a hold on that spend and divert it towards fixing the problems of our roads and pavements.”
Administration leader and fellow Ferry councillor Ken Guild rejected Mr Scott’s call as ”disingenuous” and said the council was spending more money on roads maintenance than in previous years.
”More money has been allocated to roads maintenance this time,” he said. ”I’m quite surprised that Councillor Scott has been ‘inundated’ by reports as I’ve only had two myself from constituents in the Ferry.
”As for the money being spent on refurbishing, his claim is a complete nonsense. This was explained to the Conservative group at the time it’s not a case of tarting up these buildings, we are rebuilding workshops, some of which are in a very poor state.
”While it’s not a health and safety problem yet it is likely to arrive at that point soon. We’re making them safer places to work. It’s for the safety and well-being of our employees and these are necessary repairs to bring them up to modern standards.”