Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Pavilion fight ‘not over’ for community as cabin bid rejected
T H E M i l l o’ Ma i n s community has vowed to continue its fight to get a replacement for its burnt-out pavilion.
Local people have also said they are going to make an official complaint about Dundee City Council’s handling of the situation.
Their pledge came following a stormy meeting of the local authority’s policy and resources committee last night when councillors voted by 15 votes to 13 against building a temporary building – despite the community’s claims that had been promised by the administration after the pavilion was destroyed by fire in July 2017.
Now residents are looking at the possibility of buying the land where the original pavilion was situated and raising funding to provide a replacement temporary building themselves.
Mill o’ Mains activist Jim Malone said: “After a meeting at which administration councillors, supported by Independents, rejected the pleas of the Mill o’ Mains community and overturned their previous commitment to provide a temporary facility for the estate, the community has renewed its commitment to fight for a bespoke facility.
“The community will now make an official complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman about the conduct of Dundee City Council and pursue the option of buying or leasing the land that sited the pavilion and raise funds for a facility in Mill o’ Mains.”
He added: “We will now seriously consider if it is possible to begin community fundraising to provide a new temporary building ourselves.”
The vote came after a lengthy and angry debate which Lord Provost Ian Borthwick condemned as a “rammy”. He said: “I am very disappointed we have got into this situation when we should be considering the interests of the residents and the children – this meeting has degenerated into a rammy.”
In a report to councillors, director of neighbourhood services Elaine Zwirlein, along with David Simpson, head of the housing and communities committee, recommended that the people of the area continue to use current temporary solutions until a £1.5 million extension to Mill of Mains Primary School is complete.
In June, the neighbourhood services committee agreed that council officers should prepare a report on the costs and other implications of building a temporary replacement for the pavilion.
The council minuted at that time: “Council officers are instructed to prepare a detailed report for the committee as soon as possible on the replacement of the Mill o’ Mains pavilion with a temporary facility which could be sited in Mill o’ Mains and allow the community to be supported until such time as the new-build extension is put in place.”
The report before councillors last night said: “The needs of the immediate population of the area have been revisited.”
Labour leader Kevin Keenan moved an amendment asking councillors to “honour the democratic decision” taken by the committee on June 3.
Yvonne Mullen, chairwoman of the Mill o’ Mains Pavilion Group, said: “I am disgusted at the decision taken by councillors.
“The people of Mill o’ Mains are being ignored and forgotten.
“We will continue to fight for the people of this community to give them somewhere to continue to meet and hold activities.”