The councillor behind a deal with Travellers at Jack Martin Way has defended the move despite tonnes of rubbish being dumped by the group.
John Alexander hailed the compromise as a “success”, claiming the number of complaints about the group had plummeted after they had been given sanctuary at the Fintry site.
The Travellers departed Jack Martin Way at the weekend, leaving behind a mountain of rubbish.
Mr Alexander insisted that the decision to let the group stay at the site had saved taxpayers’ money despite criticism from opposition councillors.
He told The Courier: “Previous encampments have incurred legal costs which are unacceptable to me and, I’m sure, the majority of Dundonians. Our approach reduced the legal costs to £0, reduced the overall costs substantially and reduced complaints and disruption to the people of Dundee.
“It’s important that we recognise that there have been positives and people should know that we will continue to work to minimise costs and disruption because it’s the right and sensible thing to do.
“As I always said, this was about trying a different approach to see if we could reduce the costs to the Dundee taxpayers and minimise complaints. In both of these areas, this has been a success.
“While I condemn the state of the area, I also have to reflect on what we were aiming to do and what the benefit generally speaking has been to Dundee.”
According to Mr Alexander, the council received 17 complaints over seven days when the group were camped at the Mill o’ Mains pavilion.
In contrast, he said, there had been 12 complaints about the group while they stayed at Jack Martin Way for 37 days.
He added that four of the complaints at Jack Martin Way were related to “general displeasure” rather than a specific incident.
However, Mr Alexander’s opposite number, Labour member Brian Gordon, said the council should never have compromised with the group due to the displeasure they caused local residents during their stay at Mill o’ Mains.
He added: “This group have treated no area they have stayed in with respect.”
A spokesman for the city council said they were working to clean up the site and take any additional action necessary.