A new £50,000 fund to support Christmas activities and events in communities could be launched if approved by Dundee City Council.
A review of Christmas trees across the city will see a Festive Fund created which would provide transparent and fair access to funds for every community in the city. The fund could be used to provide Christmas trees, support Hogmanay events or other fun activities and events in communities.
In addition, improvements to the City Centre offering could see projections onto Reform Street, interactive artwork in City Square and a range of other activities taking place. Improvements to lighting will also be included.
Members of Dundee City Council’s recovery sub committee will be asked to give the move the green light at its meeting on Monday (AUGUST 10).
Council leader John Alexander, who will chair the meeting, said: “The time is right to review how we use public money at Christmas and empowering communities by providing direct funding is something that will be broadly welcomed.
“I know that many communities are already coordinating their activities at a local level and have delivered a lot in previous years without council funding. So, it’s right that the council helps provide the tools to be able to deliver a Christmas programme as part of this review.
“We’ve also heard what people have had to say and we want to focus a programme of festive events on the city centre that create a vibrant and exciting destination and support the retail and hospitality sectors at this critically important time.
“The proposed approach tries to balance the needs of people who have been calling for a bigger and better Christmas offering in the heart of the city, along with those in our communities who want a local way of marking the festive period.”
Mark Flynn deputy convener of Dundee City Council’s city development committee added: “The Christmas period is a key time for retailers and the more that we can do to focus attention from inside and out with the city onto what we are offering the greater positive impact it will have on our recovery.”
A budget of more than £200,000 has been earmarked for Christmas activities, lights, trees and decorations this year and the report proposes that:
• £30,000 is made available to create the new to be Festive Fund which will be combined with the existing Hogmanay Fund to give a total of £50,000;
• £41,000 is added to Christmas Light Night to create a programme of festive activities from switch-on to the end of the holidays; and
• £110,000 is committed to installing lights and decorations in the city centre.
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%.
