After my surgeries at Harris Academy and the Mitchell Street Centre this afternoon, I attended tonight's City Council meetings at which :
* I asked a question at Leisure, Arts and Communities Committee about the criteria that community groups will require to fulfill to obtain funding via the Dundee Festival Trust. Revitalising the Trust with new trustees is to be welcomed. There is around £40 000 of funds available arising out of Dundee 800 in 1991 and it makes sense to make this available to festivals across Dundee in the future.
* At the Housing and Environment Services Committee, I queried funding available to ensure that the necessary measures are taken to improve air quality in those parts of the city where action is necessary. Thus far, Scottish Government has failed to give assurances of funding for 2011/12 and I hope that such funding will be given. It is vitally important that all necessary action to tackle issues of Nitrogen Dioxide and particulates is taken promptly.
* At the same committee, Cllr Helen Dick, my LibDem colleague, and I supported a Conservative amendment to oppose sending councillors to a housing conference at a cost of £689 plus expenses per councillor. All opposition groups opposed this waste of public money, but the SNP administration won the vote, so an SNP councillor will attend this conference at public expense at a time when services are under huge financial pressure. If ever there was an administration out of touch with the public mood, the SNP administration in Dundee is that administration.