A near 100-year-old Act of Parliament that has lain virtually untouched in the archives could scupper Dundee City Council’s plans for a public art trust, it has been claimed.
Under plans to slash £14.6 million from next year’s budget, the council wants to transfer the management of museums, libraries and other public buildings, including the Caird Hall, to a new public art trust.
However, the wording of the Dundee Boundaries Act 1913 that annexed Broughty Ferry under the city council’s control could throw a spanner in the works. Having reviewed the act, Ferry councillor Laurie Bidwell said moving control of the town library to the new trust may in fact be “illegal”.
He said, “Our Broughty Ferry Library was one of the incentives provided by the then city council to entice the former Broughty Ferry borough council to throw in their lot with Dundee.
“The 1913 Act of Parliament that annexed Broughty Ferry to Dundee made it clear that Dundee council would provide and maintain a library in Broughty Ferry within five years of the annexation. This was duly provided. I am querying now how this commitment stands.
“Can the council claim that it’s meeting this historic obligation while passing it on to an arm’s-length body not under the direct control of the council?”
The document in question states, “The corporation (council) shall on the expiration of ten years from the annexation, establish and thereafter maintain in the burgh a district library with a reading room.”ResponsibleMr Bidwell, therefore, claims the council is still deemed directly responsible for the upkeep of the library. He also criticises putting museums and libraries together with leisure facilities in the new trust.
“I think at the very least a separate trust should be considered for museums and libraries in the city,” he said. “I don’t think people with interests in swimming and basketball are going to have much interest in running arts facilities and libraries.
“I think Councillor Ken Guild should think again about the wisdom of the changes to library management his administration is proposing for Broughty Ferry.”
Mr Guild, the leader of the SNP administration and a Broughty Ferry councillor, hit back, and defended the reasoning behind the trust.
He said, “The terms of the trust will be fully investigated and I think that Councillor Bidwell would be much better engaged in joining me in ensuring the Broughty Ferry library can be kept open, that the money will be made available to continue to run the full service of the leisure and communities department.
“The reasons for the trust is to save money so a wider range of services can continue. I don’t know what obscure political point he thinks he is making here, but the administration is determined it will carry out a full range of leisure facilities.”