STEVE FINAN: Why is it costing incredible amount of money to build new Dundee Blackness Road flats?

The Courier

10-07-2025

There is a lot about the knocking down and replacement of flats in Dundee's Blackness Road that I find puzzling.
It didn't make sense to demolish the tenements at Nos 219 to 245 in the first place.
The stairs, reportedly unsound, could have been replaced and the interiors refurbished, properly insulated, with eco-friendly heating installed.
This would have cost a quarter of what the council is about to spend on a rebuild.
And the consultation, which found that residents favoured demolition, was bizarrely badly handled too.
Landlords were counted as residents.
Did no one think to check these people's home addresses?
That should have been question one of a 'residents' consultation.
Now, after many an unexplained delay, the city is to build 24 new flats at a projected cost of £8.52 million.
That works out at more than £355,000 per flat.
New flats at Keiller's Rise in Clepington Road are being marketed at £210,000 – that's a £145,000 difference.
And, bear in mind, the Blackness Road land didn't have to be purchased.
It previously had tenements too, so sewers and services are nearby.
And there will likely be VAT exemptions on a rebuild, making the project cheaper than a newbuild.
That £355k per flat figure is ridiculous.
Exactly what issues are costing such an incredible amount of money?
The worst thing about all this is that we'll probably never know the answers.
Because Dundee's councillors are too frightened to ask meaningful questions about it.
They just accept whatever they are fed by planning officers – yes sir, no sir, three bags full, sir.
They are too weak to object or challenge or even murmur.
A constituent-focused councillor would be tackling this head on.
Such a person would ask questions, dig deep, then explain it all – transparently and honestly – in ways everyone can understand.
It is a councillor's duty to do this on behalf of constituents. It is their job to scrutinise planning reports.
If they don't do that, they are showing arrogant disrespect for the people who voted them in.
They should do it no matter who tries to shut them down. No matter that they aren't toeing the party line.
Do we have anyone on the council with the personal integrity to do that?
Please, will that councillor step forward?
No? No one?
Is there not one on the ruling group (because anyone else would be voted down) who thinks constituents deserve better?
Do they all believe their party unity is more important than their people?
How depressingly unsurprising.
Where are you, SNP group councillors?
When you are spending so much of Dundee's money, Dundee has a right to know why.
The next local elections can't come quickly enough.
I keep saying this: I don't care which party you support (personally, I don't like any of them) but vote, I beg you, for individuals who have the character and courage to do the job properly.
None of the current councillors do.
They whinge if they think they are being insulted, but their backbone wilts when the hard stuff needs done.