The world’s biggest name in design is coming to Dundee. The foundations for the V&A are being laid behind the hoardings at Riverside and the landscaped gardens between it and the Caird Hall are ready and waiting for the magnificent building.
Yet the decision-making process around the V&A by our city fathers is far from well designed it has been archaic and secretive since it started, more akin to smoke-filled rooms rather than a modern democratic city.
Search for Dundee Design Limited online and you will struggle to find out who is making the decisions about the V&A.
Dundee Design Limited is the company established by the council to take charge of the project. We don’t know who it is. We don’t know how often it meets. We don’t know what decisions it is making.
That is why we desperately need full accountability and transparency. We need to know what is happening.
Firstly, I am proposing Dundee runs a city-wide election to pick a person to oversee the V&A project for us a Dundonian who we trust who will chair the Dundee Design Limited board and can publicly communicate the decisions it makes.
Secondly, I am proposing Dundee Design Limited meets in public.
It can be a committee of the council and allow citizens to watch from the public gallery as decisions are made about spending millions of pounds and transforming our city. Its minutes should be published.
Thirdly, this is all public money. The project should be immediately and regularly audited by Audit Scotland.
Finally, the V&A has to be more relevant to people in Dundee.
These are simple steps but we desperately need to breathe new life into the important decisions around the V&A. It’s our V&A and we need to start to own it.