There was an item on the agenda of this week’s meeting of the council’s Policy and Resources Committee seeking agreement to replace the council’s two civic cars. Both vehicles had been leased since November 2008 and as the initial lease period of three years had expired the leases were operating on a month to month basis. It was agreed that the Lord Provost’s official limousine, TS1, would be replaced but in respect of the second car, which is used to transport councillors and officials to meetings and conferences, I proposed that this shouldn’t be replaced, generating a saving for the council tax payers of Dundee of about £6000 a year.
The council has a staff travel plan that expects employees to consider whether their journey is completely necessary or if an alternative, like a telephone conference call or email discussion would be more appropriate. If a meeting is needed journeys of up to one mile are expected to be on foot and those greater than a mile within Dundee are expected to be made by bus. I argued that councillors should be expected to comply with the same considerations as council staff and having a second civic car readily available would make it more likely that people would use it. Unfortunately my proposal was voted down by the administration.
Since the meeting took place I have received a number of supportive comments from local residents about the stance I took on this matter.
