At council committees tonight, the committee I chair, Planning & Transport, had very positive agenda items on the regeneration of Lochee and Stobswell, together with a tree preservation order being confirmed, to protect trees and screening of industrial units on Riverside Avenue.
At Policy & Resources Committee, I spoke on a couple of items:
- Fairer Scotland Fund - to express concern at the £230 000 reduction in funding Dundee is receiving this year - funding that is targeted at the least affluent communities. Both I and Council Leader Kevin Keenan asked for all-party consensus to persuade Scottish Government to increase funding to the City in this area .
- Scottish Futures Trust - The Scottish Government's "non profit" suggested alternative to PPP capital funding. I made the point that although I have no problem in principle with a not for profit model, the bottom line is - will the Scottish Government come up with
the Level Playing Field support the previous Scottish Executive funded? Without it, Alex Salmond's claims of meeting previous capital improvements in schools "brick for brick" will fall flat on its face.
On another matter entirely, if you click on the headline above, you can see an excellent resource on "Old Dundee - People and places from a Victorian City."