Having last week criticised Dundee councillors as fearties who never express opinions, I must give credit where it is due and praise councillor Lynne Short for speaking up on a controversial local issue.
The councillor backed Dundee FC’s plans for a training ground at Riverside.
West End residents might have been disappointed when reading it, but at least Lynne explained her reasons for why their desires should be overruled.
The reason this deserves remark is because it is so rare among the SNP group.
I agree with Lynne. The training facility should be built.
The plans look good. The accompanying building is not an eyesore (which was suggested) any more than the nearby Bridgeview Station Restaurant is.
As for blocking the view (another objection), it depends how you look at it.
I played Welfare League football at the (numbingly cold and windy) Riverside in the early 1980s when there were pitches all the way to the airport perimeter.
If residents were worried about the view, why have they never complained about the relatively recently-grown trees surrounding the university playing fields?
However, back to councillors and opinions.
There is an irrefutable fact councillors must face.
It is: if you make decisions on behalf of people, you must be accountable for those decisions.
That has to – 100% must – involve explaining your reasons for backing one group while refusing to support another, as Ms Short did. (The Courier, Tuesday November 19)
It isn’t easy to do that. It means you disappoint someone.
But councillors knew what they were getting into. If they’re not the type of person who can deal with the job’s more unpleasant demands, then they should stand down.
If they’re not articulate enough to explain a difficult decision in public, again they’re not made of the right stuff and should stand down.
So, SNP group, can the rest of you do what Lynne did?
Convenor Stewart Hunter could, for instance, explain the strangely low school violence figures.
Convenor Steven Rome could talk us through the extent of flood defences at the supercampus.
Or are you gentlemen not such capable operators as Lynne? Not brave enough? Unable to speak coherently?
There’s an event coming that makes all this more important than usual.
Dundee councillors must carry can of cuts
The next budget will be one of the most difficult in Dundee’s recent history.
Everyone in the city knows savage cuts are looming.
Councillors, you can deflect all you want, and try to say council officers are the bad guys. But you vote on the cuts, you’ll carry the can.
And it won’t be enough to just cower down while the leader broad-brushes.
You must speak for yourselves and your convenorships. Dundee people will want, and they deserve, detail.
If you explain, if you’re open and honest about why A retains funding but not B, people still won’t like it but at least they’ll understand the choices you had to make.
If you stay silent you’ll be branded aloof and uncaring. That’s human nature.
Take Lynne’s lead. When you have to disappoint someone, have the decency to tell them why.
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