The city council’s leader has insisted there are no plans to close a local community centre, despite rumours the authority had decided to put it on the market.
Kirkton Community Partnership has publicly claimed the council is attempting to sell the community hall from under their nose.
Bryan Hill, the group chairman, wrote to city councillors claiming to have heard from a reliable source that there were discussions taking place to close and sell the facility in “the not too distant future”.
Mr Hill’s fellow group member, Lynne Watson, said meetings had taken place behind closed doors.
She said: “We already knew that the centre’s closure was planned due to meetings between the local management group and the communities officer – who’d been told to pass on the message that the centre was too expensive to run and coming to the end of its life.
“The only options presented as available were for the local management group to do an asset transfer of the building/ land and then we’d have to raise all the money to build a new centre, or look at getting an add-on to St Paul’s.
“The councillors seem to be unaware of these discussions.”
However, John Alexander – who represents the ward – said there were no plans to close the centre.
He said: “I have told the community and the partnership that no report, recommendation or proposal has been put to or discussed by councillors in Dundee – whether that be the administration group or opposition politicians.”
Meanwhile, the ward’s Labour councillor Kevin Keenan, said he had received dozens of emails from worried locals.
He said: “Like others, I have heard the rumours about the community centre closure.
“Given that we are in the middle of a pandemic, people can see for themselves the excellent community there is here in Kirkton and how they support each other when its needed most. These are the very same people that see the need for the community centre and would like the building open now to meet demand.”
A spokesman for the council said: “There is no date for re-opening Dundee City Council’s community centres, which were closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Any decisions on the re-opening of council buildings will be led by national Scottish Government and health advice about when it is safe to do so.”
