The flaws of regeneration policy in Dundee and other parts of the country have been laid bare in a report by a Holyrood committee.
Communities have little or no involvement in the work undertaken to try to reduce deprivation and inequality, the document claims.
The report by the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government and Regeneration Committee (PDF link) drew on fact-finding missions in the Whitfield area of Dundee and other communities across Scotland.
Committee chairman Kevin Stewart MSP said: “Regeneration is not just about buildings, it is about community, which is central to improving lives of the people of Scotland. But all too often it seems that the community are not given a voice in what is happening to them.”
But Dundee’s North East ward councillor Willie Sawers rejected the findings, stressing the high priority the council places on regeneration.
The committee held a workshop in Whitfield, which was attended by representatives from various parts of the city.
Many aspects of what is happening were lauded and found to be “best practice”.
The report stated: “We highlight the community led approach that is being taken in Whitfield, where community groups are given a budget and decide themselves how best to spend this in their area, supported by a local officer.”
Mr Sawers said: “Dundee City Council places a high priority on the regeneration of communities across the city.
“Our models of Local Community Planning Partnerships, which involve local residents, have been acknowledged as models of best practice by the Scottish Government and representatives from as far afield as Belfast have visited Dundee to examine how we set up our structures.
“Too often the remoteness felt at a local level is the result of ill-judged and draconian policies, such as the Bedroom Tax, imposed by Westminster governments.
“Such policies, opposed by local politicians, cut across much of the good work being carried out in Dundee on regeneration.”
One of the workshop participants, Alice Bovill, from Strathmartine Regeneration Forum, agreed work was effective.
“I think we do have a voice,” she said. “Every area makes up their own mind and there’s no one size fits all.”
However, the workshop heard from other participants who revealed a sense of disparity between the different areas of the city, particularly between older developments and “newer” communities.
“There was a feeling from some people that their concerns did not receive the same level of focus or attention from policy and agencies because they didn’t live in developments dating from the ’60s onwards,” the report said.
They pointed to the old Skarne housing units which had been deemed “unfit for human habitation” in areas like Whitfield but in older more established communities they have been retained.
The committee said: “This led to a very palpable sense of anger and confusion in the discussion group as to why people living in one community were classed as needing newer housing because such units were considered unfit, while in other communities just two or three miles away, these very same units were still classed as fit for habitation.”