Improving Services Through Listening to People

Published

19th June 2025

Improvements to council and public services that have been taken forward as a result of listening to people across Dundee are to be highlighted.

The City Governance committee on Monday June 23 will consider a detailed report showing how local authority service areas have responded to suggestions from the public.

These include the involvement of local people in planning for the £100 million Drumgeith Community Campus, which is due to open in August, and more engagement with carers of adults with a learning disability through their preferred option of digital surveys.

The report outlines how the council has looked at suggestions and comments to enhance the ways in which it interacts with people.

This approach can see the involvement of the public in planning new services and facilities, as well as meetings with representative groups like tenants, carers, parents and people with disabilities.

Analysis of individual complaints, comments and suggestions that have been received is also carried out.

Depute convener of the City Governance committee Councillor Willie Sawers said: “We are a listening council, and it is important that the views and experiences of people can be taken on board to improve services for everyone.

“We are never complacent about these issues. The voices of those in our city like people with lived experience, foster carers, families, children and young people are vital in letting us know how to make improvements.”

Examples include:

  • Wide consultation around development of the council’s BSL Plan
  • Input into local community plan outcomes from local people
  • Parent feedback leading to more educational trips for St Joseph’s pupils
  • New digitised football pitch booking system
  • Weekly school holiday trips for Lochee families struggling financially
  • Refurbished lounge at Dallfield and Tulloch Courts following tenants’ concerns about community safety
  • Lighting in the city centre was subject to consultation and ‘night walks’ with stakeholders
  • Better advice on communal bins following feedback from people that not enough information was provided about what waste should go in each container

The full list of improvements is available on the report online here. The council details the process every year on a special webpage here.

Dundee City Council

Dundee draws skilled workers from a 60-minute catchment population of 640,000 and has a local population of over 140,000. The availability of a large pool of highly skilled labour is a key feature in the Dundee economy. Flexibility in the labour force is currently more prevalent in Dundee than in Scotland as a whole. All forms of labour market flexibility - part-time, temporary employment, self-employment and shift work - are widely operational within the city. Labour force stability in the city is excellent, enabling companies to plan with confidence. Labour turnover levels are less than 5% and absenteeism averages 2%.

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