Campaigners have ramped up their efforts to force Dundee City Council into thinking again over controversial greenbelt land on the site of the former Kingspark School.
Residents from the area surrounding the Gilburn Road site are furious as they believe the authority has backtracked on a promise to leave the site to the community.
In August it emerged the council proposed to leave just 25% of the area to the community which locals branded “insulting” and build private housing on the rest.
This week at a city development meeting councillors backed plans to carry on with the housing project.
Long-time campaigners Lynn Watson, Graham Low and Stephen Cragg have now decided enough is enough and have lodged a complaint with the Scottish public services ombudsman in response to what they believe to be unfair conduct on the part of the council.
Lynn, 48, said: “The council has voted for the housing and against us. At the moment they are saying that everything will go ahead.
“We only found out about the meeting on Monday night by accident
“There is a whole legal framework behind a local development plan, but Kingspark is not on there, which is a bit surprising.
“The whole point in that framework is that it should show all plans for housing. The council has said they have done everything they could to consult the local population, but we don’t think they have.
“My son, Alex, has also contacted the youth council because apparently young people and children must be consulted, but they haven’t been.
“We will have to wait and see what the Ombudsman’s response is but I think it could take a while.”
Last week The Courier spoke to 75-year-old resident Peggy George, who claimed householders living near the land have not been given the chance to submit objections.
Peggy, 75, who served on Kirkton and Downfield Community Councils, had previously accused the council of reneging on a promise to give the land over for community use.
She said: “There is a whole lot of us who have not been told at all. The council say they had 27 responses, but there’s many people objecting to the plans who weren’t consulted.”
A council spokesman said: “The city development committee on Monday January 25, after a vote by 15 votes to 13, approved a revised site planning brief for land at the former Kingspark School after further representation from residents.”