The chief executive of Dundee City Council has been criticised after refusing a request to reveal a costed list of all repairs carried out at the Olympia – because he says the pools were “refurbished” and not “repaired”.
The Courier made a Freedom of Information request to the local authority, asking for a full list of repairs and maintenance carried out during the centre’s closure between October 2021 and December 2023.
This request asked that the cost of each individual piece of work also be revealed.
After an eight-month wait for a response, the council eventually supplied a list of some work – but this only had a total value of about £300,000.
Olympia pools ‘refurbished not repaired’ says council chief executive
When pushed further on the matter, the council’s chief executive Greg Colgan – paid £170,000 a year – insisted details of the multi-million-pound project would “fall under the scope of planned refurbishments, replacements and upgrades”, and not the “repairs and maintenance” The Courier had asked for.
This is despite some of the work being unplanned – and dozens of news stories at the time referring to the work as “repairs”.
Mr Colgan has since refused an appeal to release information on the full £6.1m contract and says The Courier would need to put in a new request – which could take several more months to come back.
The matter has now been appealed to the Scottish Information Commissioner.
The council chief is coming under fire for not being transparent.
Michael Marra, Scottish Labour MSP for north-east Scotland, said: “This revelation is just the latest development in the Olympia scandal.
“There has been a grotesque waste of money due to council incompetence and the determination of the SNP administration not to tell the truth is shameful.
“Freedom of Information laws exist in this country for a reason – highly paid public officials should not be allowed to hide how they spend public money.
“Dundee City Council must come clean – the public deserves the truth.”
Meanwhile, Maurice Golden – Scottish Conservative MSP for north-east Scotland – accused the council of wanting to hide information.
He said: “This fiasco has shown SNP-run Dundee City Council has an unhealthy culture of secrecy, and that needs to be put under the microscope.
“Something must be in the repairs file which the council does not want the public to know. But it will all come out in time, anyway.
“It would be a positive step for the chief executive to publish the full list now, to start off this process with renewed transparency, and it will help rebuild the public’s trust in the council.”
Council insists list of Olympia work ‘already in public domain’
A Dundee City Council spokesperson said: “The itemised detail and overall figure of around £290,000 given in the (Freedom of Information request) answer refers to repairs and maintenance carried out or instructed directly by the council at Olympia between 2021 and 2023.
“This is outwith the scope of the total tender of £6.1 million for refurbishment and upgrade works awarded to Robertson Construction by the recess sub-committee in public in July 2022.”
The council says a list of work carried out during the £6.1m project is already in the public domain in the report from that July 2022 meeting.
However, while this lists each item of work required, it does not break down how much each item cost – so there is no list showing how the money was spent.
The spokesperson added: “The overall tender report is also in the public domain and can be found here.
“While all the works have been detailed, the breakdown of how the £6.1m total project cost is allocated is a matter for the contractor.”
An independent probe is set to be held into what forced the Olympia to close in February 2024 – just weeks after it had reopened following the £6m repairs.
However, it will not investigate the longer Olympia closure.
Conversation