The Trust recognises the importance of getting involved with the statutory planning system as a way of influencing the quality of the city’s environment. In addition to commenting on planning applications and responding to consultations, where appropriate we express our own campaigning policies.
Dundee Civic Trust is urging national and local authorities to back a strategic shift in how north‑east traffic moves around the city, arguing that upgrading the A94 offers the most effective way to relieve chronic pressure on the Kingsway and Forfar Road. The A90 corridor has long suffered from heavy congestion, pollution and delays, creating […]
Dundee Civic Trust welcomes the City Council’s review of the 2019 Local Development Plan. The previous plan had some strengths, but it no longer reflects current national policy or the city’s needs. We argue that the next plan should be more ambitious, coherent and adaptable, with flexible planning frameworks rather than rigid masterplans. Dundee’s tightly […]
Dundee Civic Trust proposes the creation of a Dundee Design Review Panel to support high‑quality, sustainable and design‑led development across the city. Although Dundee is a UNESCO City of Design, it currently lacks an independent, multidisciplinary mechanism for assessing the design quality of planning proposals. Modelled on the Edinburgh Design Panel, the initiative would be […]
Despite being Scotland’s fourth-largest city, Dundee is the country’s smallest local authority by land area; and by quite a considerable margin. Dundee Civic Trust considers that the city’s boundaries are too small and limiting for efficient government. There are conflicts in education, planning decisions, transport planning, housing policy, social work and even bin collections that […]
Dundee’s Waterfront development area is approaching thirty years since its inception. Dundee Civic Trust has been concerned that the city’s central area is blighted due to the seven remaining key sites that have remained undeveloped for this whole time, empty and neglected, and surrounded by ugly hoardings. There seems to be little progress. We believe it is […]
At present VAT of 20% is charged on all materials and labour employed to repair or upgrade all second-hand buildings, but no VAT is charged on the cost of new buildings. The Scottish Government National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) indicates a preference for reuse, adaptation and recycling in relation to existing buildings rather than demolition […]
Dundee Civic Trust, working with the Dundee Institute of Architects (DIA), organised successful housing design workshops that took place in June 2023 in the University of Dundee Department of Architecture and Urban Planning. The workshops’ aims were to achieve better design of housing in the city and to develop a template for developers, taking into […]
The Trust’s Vision for Dundee in 2040: a diversified city centre with strengthened city neighbourhoods as places for people to live, work, learn and visit; A ’20-minute city’, where everyone can walk or cycle for essential needs and one that is compact with limits to the expansion of the built-up area; a well-connected city with […]
The Trust believes that a radical new strategy is needed for the city centre, led by the Council, to tackle the increasing number of shop vacancies and empty upper floor premises. We are now pleased to see the Council has produced a consultation document, “Our Future City Centre – Strategic Investment Plan 2020-2050”, to which […]
The Trust supports the overall development principles of the Central Waterfront Masterplan and welcomes new investment to the city. We will continue our regular dialogue with the Council and developers, however, to argue for a higher quality of design in future developments than has been achieved on site 6 opposite V&A Dundee and the railway […]