Chance to have say on spending

ARBROATH councillor Lois Speed has urged people to attend a public information day in the town to find out how to have their say in how a £50,000 Community Choices fund will be spent locally.

The event is being held at St Andrew’s Church, Hamilton Green, on Saturday, from 11am-7pm.

Ms Speed said: “I believe it’s crucial the people of Arbroath find out about the Community Choices money and participatory budgeting events that are coming up and I hope that as many people as possible attend.

“The event will provide all the information that people need to know, how to take part and what options there are to vote for and then the voting day itself in March. This is local democracy in action and will allow people to vote on how money is spent in their area.”

The government recently announced that at least 1% of local authority budgets would be decided through participatory budgeting by 2021, allowing local people to vote for the projects they support.

Demolition workers were cleared to move in to the old Constitution Road site to start preliminary work on a £12 million development that will provide 135 properties, as well as social and leisure amenities including a gym and a cinema.

Developers said they were delighted that the city council’s planning committee had backed their project by 22 votes to five at yesterday’s meeting, adding that the building should now be ready for its first tenants in the late summer of next year.

Demolition work was to start immediately with building work due to begin in July.

John Shepherd, managing director of Edinburgh-based Voxcap Investments, the company behind the project, said the scheme would be the first of its type in the UK to offer rented accommodation for young professionals alongside shared social and leisure spaces.

He said: “We are delighted to bring it to Dundee because there is currently so much happening in the city.”

Eve McCurrich, Voxcap’s residential director, said the building had been redesigned to include 111 flats and 24 short-stay apartments.

She said: “This is a really useful building.

“Our architects have redesigned it to replace the external cladding and make it look better externally than it does at the moment.”

The development will also include a cafe, gym and studio, launderette, lounge and dining areas and a cinema in the former lecture theatre.

WORK to convert a derelict Dundee College building into “unique” rented housing accommodation was under way today, after councillors gave the project their approval.