Next could open in Wellgate

Sir, - Many of the rather heated comments about the decision by Dundee City Council to refuse the application by Next take what the developers say as being fact.

But these statements need to be examined carefully.

For example, Next indicated that there would have been 125 new jobs created in the new store. But when questioned by councillors, representatives indicated that the hours worked in these jobs would have meant that these 125 jobs would only have been equivalent to 42 full-time jobs.

Dundonians can work out for themselves the hours per week and the kind of jobs that this implies.

But most fundamentally, the job numbers they quote need to be further reduced as they take no account of the many jobs that would inevitably be lost in other shops elsewhere in the city.

Unfortunately, the number of new jobs created by new stores are almost always fewer than those which they eliminate in other businesses.

If this application had been approved, the one thing that is certain is that significant expenditure, customers and footfall would have been removed from the city centre and taken to Kingsway West.

With a shops vacancy level already well above the Scottish average, this is the last thing that Dundee city centre needs.

Moreover, the chances of attracting new retail investment to the city centre would have been diminished by fewer customers and more vacant and charity shops.

If Next were to be more inventive and amend their proposals by removing the garden centre it would be quite possible to locate the project in the Wellgate, for example, which would be of significant benefit to the city centre.

We can only hope Next now give such an option serious consideration. Nick Day. Chairman, Dundee Civic Trust, 13 Whinny Brae, Broughty Ferry.