He goes on to suggest there is a case for the city region plan document to be ripped up and re-worked on a collaborative basis by the three authorities fighting over the cash spend.

Elected members in the neighbouring authorities of Angus and Perth reacted furiously to the decision by city councillors to allocate all the cash to the waterfront regeneration.

They rejected the view of Dundee City council leader Jill Shimi that the Scottish Executive windfall would help bring benefit to commuters and residents of other areas.

Scottish Executive criteria dictate the money must be spent on projects that will boost city regions as a whole, but both they and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) have stepped away from the spending row and told the council triumverate to sort the matter out themselves.

Peace seems unlikely to break out between Angus and Dundee this afternoon, however, when the rural authority’s top official will tell strategic policy committee members he does not view the waterfront initiative as a key project for the city region in a critical appraisal of the Dundee submission to Holyrood.

“Projects funded by the cities growth fund should be of regional significance, that is they should benefit the entire city region,” states Mr Sawers.

“It was recognised some projects may be designed specifically to benefit outlying areas, while other projects would focus on the city itself,” the report adds.

“In response to the second funding round, Dundee City Council prepared a draft investment plan for the period 2006-08. The investment plan confirmed their intention to utilise all of the funding secured in support of the Central Waterfront project.”

Mr Sawers pulls no punches in his criticism of the investment plans and attacks it for unnecessarily, in his view, re-igniting the contentious issue of a local authority boundary review.

“The investment plan makes little reference to the wider city region and the impact the waterfront project will have on this area,” states Mr Sawers.

“The results of the initial draft of the outline strategic economic impact statement are heavily qualified by the authors and primarily record the number of jobs which would arise for a given level of development.

“Until the detailed property market appraisal, and economic impact assessment, have been completed, it is premature to reach a firm view on the effects of the central waterfront project on the wider city region.

“Accordingly, concern remains that the scale of investment, both public and private, may exceed the market’s ability.

“Therefore, the full benefits may not arise, or needed investment in other parts of the city region may suffer as a consequence.”

Mr Sawers, in the joint report with Angus planning and transport chief Alex Anderson, also criticises the Dundee submission for a lack of prominence with regard to transport issues.

While acknowledging the co-operative work going on to address public transport access, the chief executive says the physical road-rail integration is “not ideal”.

He adds, “Low-cost air travel has been a major growth area.

“Although Dundee City Airport continues to play an important role, its restricted capacity means it has not attracted the budget airline operators.

“In the context of a city region vision for the next 20/30 years, the issue of air travel should be given more prominence.

“Opportunities to address the issue exist outwith the city, and again serve to demonstrate the importance of the inter-relationships between the city and surrounding areas.”

He continues, “The city vision document includes reference to the need for a review of local authority boundaries.

“This was a source of major concern to the neighbouring community planning partnerships when the document was first prepared, and it remains so.

“It is considered unnecessary for such statements to be included in the document, and is counterproductive to partnership working with adjoining councils.

The Angus chief executive puts forward the view that Dundee’s city vision plan should actually be scrapped in favour of a new, joint approach strategy.

“The process of preparing a new document could be beneficial in securing improved partnership working between the community planning partnerships.

“It would also go some way to meeting the Scottish Executive’s requirement that the investment plan should demonstrate details of long-term arrangements put in place to improve partnership working at city regional level, and to facilitate continued engagement and collaboration with neighbouring local authorities and community planning partnerships.”

Mr Sawers continues, “The central waterfront project is recognised as being an attractive urban regeneration project, which has the potential to improve the image of the city.

“Until the economic impact analysis is available it is not possible to quantify the project’s effect on the city region.

“Therefore, notwithstanding the project’s clear physical and land use benefits, it is not possible, at this time, to fully endorse it as the key project for the city region,” concludes Mr Sawers’ report.