No more false dawns at Baldovie

I am keen that the plans  for a new operator at the Baldovie Waste-to-Energy plant succeed.  It is important that Dundee City Council finds a long-term solution for the problems faced at the plant and that solution must not be an open-cheque from Dundee's hard-pressed council-taxpayers.  Everyone on the council is very keen that this new deal works for the people of Dundee.

There have been a few false dawns at Baldovie in terms of what has happened previously. I would hope that this is a model that would work.  It needs to be clear what is expected from the taxpayers and that the new operator won’t be coming back for more on a regular basis, which is effectively what has happened in the past.

Dundee needs to improve its recycling rate and I hope that these plans add to potential for improving recycling rates.  I am not opposed to joint working with other councils but I do have some worries that these joint-working relationships often operate with a democratic deficit.  It is important that openness and transparency remains a key part of the governance structure.  When we are talking about spending public money there should be no question of hiding behind legal structures to restrict openness and transparency.