Dundee City Council doesn’t have to be run the way it has been since the Scottish local elections of 2017.
The council clearly has a policy of non-communication, and the city has become used to the lack of visibility over the years.
We now just accept it as the way things are.
But a well-run, properly functioning council doesn’t perform in this manner.
I’m very tired of the phrase: “A spokesperson for Dundee City Council said…” when something happens in the city.
What should happen is the leader of the council, and/or relevant committee convenor, and/or ward councillor where the action happened, steps up and answers for it.
A good, or bad, example was the announcement the Shoppers Service bus, operating between sheltered housing complexes and the nearest supermarket, was to be axed.
‘Face up to this’
The council voted to withdraw support [the decision was taken at a public budget meeting last February before a stay of execution that ended this week when a funding bid by Dundee charity Food Train failed].
Lib Dem Councillor Fraser Macpherson, a vocal opponent of the decision, said: “It’s a crying shame to get rid of such a valuable service.
“The service has been around for as long as I can remember, and it’s helped hundreds of people.
“This is a mean cut as the amount of money it costs to run it is £20,500.
“It’s minor in financial terms but a real loss to the many elderly people across Dundee who have relied on the shopping service for many years.”
Someone from the ruling group should face up to this.
What we should have got this week was those who decided to withdraw the buses fielding questions in person, from bus users, constituents, and journalists.
Their job, after all, is to represent the people.
But what we got was: “A spokesperson for Dundee City Council said…” followed by the same waffle trotted out when the service was first threatened.
On important matters Dundee deserves better than anodyne quotes issued by the council’s faceless PR department.
‘They don’t admit anything’
It is this lack of a real response, lack of responsibility, that shows the organisational malaise crippling this city.
The apparent refusal of councillors to speak up might make you believe they don’t have to explain themselves.
But the opposite is true.
Let’s look at the code of conduct set out by the Standards Commission For Scotland.
In the code’s “key principles” for local councillors, under the heading “Accountability and Stewardship” it says: “I am accountable to the public for my decisions and actions.”
Under the heading “Openness”, it says: “I have a duty to be as open as possible about my decisions and actions, giving reasons for my decisions”.
Dundee’s ruling group of councillors don’t do this.
I know some people want to defend them at times, and that’s nice.
But the councillors so consistently fail to put their face to difficult problems it must be their agreed policy within the group.
They wouldn’t admit that of course, but then they don’t admit anything.
The 15 SNP members of the council – Dundee’s undisputed hide and seek champions – think you are too stupid to notice.
They hope that by never making a comment, never taking responsibility, never saying anything when bad stuff happens, people will somehow forget what it is they are supposed to do.
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