Dundee to lose assessor’s office after vote defeat

Councillors from Angus and Perth voted to retain offices in their areas

Dundee’s assessor’s office is to close with up to 25 jobs transferred to Forfar thanks to the votes of councillors from Angus and Perth and Kinross.

The decision to shut the Yeaman’s Shore office was taken by the Tayside Joint Valuation Board.

It currently has three offices covering Tayside – in Dundee, Perth and Forfar – but will now close the Dundee office and cover the area from the remaining two locations.

The six Dundee councillors on the board voted to retain the Dundee office but were outvoted by the nine other board members, who represent Angus and Perth and Kinross councils.

It is understood the lease on the Dundee office is due to expire in the next couple of years.

Although the move will not involve any job losses, city staff will have to transfer to Forfar.

The assessor is responsible for setting council tax valuation bands and rateable values of properties.

One employee affected by the move said staff were unhappy at the way the process has been handled.

“Twenty-five jobs will be going out of Dundee,” the staff member said.

“The Tayside Valuation Joint Board have, in their wisdom decided to close the Dundee office and move it to Forfar.

“Nobody is very happy about it. The announcement came out of the blue.

“It’s going to add a lot more on to people’s journeys to work.

“Assessors need their cars and from what I hear there isn’t much parking up at the Forfar offices.

“We’re now going to have to make lengthy round trips when valuing properties in Dundee.”

The employee added: “Dundee will become the largest town in Scotland without an assessor’s office.”

The Tayside Joint Valuation Board comprises 15 councillors: six from Dundee, four from Angus and five from Perth and Kinross.

Assessor’s offices will be maintained at Forfar and in Perth.

Broughty Ferry Conservative councillor Philip Scott said the Dundee members had fought to keep the city’s office open.

Mr Scott said: “As you can imagine, the Dundee people were outvoted by Angus and Perth so the decision was taken to move out of Dundee.

“The Dundee people did try to stop it. There were financial issues and it will save the taxpayer money but it is disappointing it is leaving Dundee after all this time.”