East End Ward

I am glad to announce that the City Development departments transportation team will be reviewing the accessibilty issues within Dundee as has been pointed out in the Courier today.

I have had many lengthy discussions with the team over what has been the biggest change in the bus network over the past 20 years or so and it has caused a lot of anger and frustration. Understandably so.

Meetings have also been held with National Express where we have expressed concerns and given them a team view of where we see missed opportunities and obvious gaps. These meetings have been confidential so I cannot update the blog as too the content however what was evident is that we are looking to help National Express do what is best for the public transport network in Dundee.

Change is sometimes hard to accept and sometimes when decisions are taken with the best of intentions, it leaves people frustrated and angry. I totally agree that we will need to look closely at how services are provided and what can be done to fill the gaps and this process will start in November.

I find myself at odds with colleauges of other parties over this board. We are presenting an ideal opportunity for members of the opposition to become involved with the budget preparations but they do not seem to be interested.

Why I wonder!

We are approaching matters in a way never seen at Dundee before but they still think we are hiding things. This is an ideal opportunity for all members to become involved but as they have no control within the council any longer they do not wish to know about it.

Oh how things have changed in the last couple of years.

We are more open and transparent than they were but we are still accused of hiding things - how ironic!

2010 - Dundee International Book Prize

This is the UK's premier prize for emerging novelists and the final four have been announced. This is the biggest award in the UK for an unpublished writer and after more than a hundred entries were received from around the world, four have made the cut.

Dundee is committed to supporting innovation and the City is a hub of creativity - whether that's in the arts, digital gaming or music. The book prize shows that we are serious about recognising and celebrating that talent. The book prize is a fantastic way of discovering new writing talent and the fact that the judges have chosen four finalists this year instead of three shows the breadth and scope of the talent out there.

Extracts of the final four have been published at
www.literarydundee.co.uk/bookprize.htm