Councillor takes sideways pop at Dundee
BY CHARLIE GALL c.gall@dailyrecord.co.uk A COUNCILLOR has sparked a row with a sideways dig at Dundee.
Edinburgh Labour group leader Cammy Day insisted the redevelopment of the old Grant gas works in the capital should be a success because even “bloody Dundee” was able to attract the first Victoria & Albert design museum outside of London.
But Dundee City Council’s convener of city development, Lynne Short, believes his comments display “high dudgeon”. And she said they would be happy to offer him advice on regeneration projects.
Dundee’s stunning £80million V&A museum opened in September and is part of the £1billion, 30-year transformation of the city’s waterfront.
Day referred to the V&A as he told of his hopes for the Granton site bought from the National Grid.
Day said: “If bloody Dundee can get a V&A, then the capital city wants something even better. Dundee is not the capital city, Edinburgh is.” Day added: “There’s a real opportunity to completely change the north of the city.
“What we don’t want is a big storage container – we want a V&A, we want something quite iconic.”
Councillor Short, who represents the SNP, said: “We will take his comments as a back-handed compliment. They are what we call ‘high dudgeon’.
“I think everybody looking around Scotland will appreciate the V&A took an extremely long time to come to fruition.
“Dundee will keep grabbing opportunities with both hands but it is good if we are inspiring other towns and cities.”
She added: “The V&A is Scotland’s museum, not just Dundee’s.”