Request for a pedestrian refuge

Over the years I have been contacted by residents of Ravenscraig Gardens about the difficulty they have in crossing Dundee Road due to the volume and speed of traffic and the width of the carriageway at this point.

The possibility of providing a pedestrian refuge has been investigated previously but it was concluded by the council that there wouldn’t be the footfall to support it and also due to the geometry of the road a refuge couldn’t be located on a natural desire line. I was told that the location would be included on the list of outstanding works but it would be with a low priority.

I have raised the subject again with the City Development Department now that the speed limit on Dundee Road has been reduced to 30 mph and I have been advised by the head of transportation that the network management team will assess this request again to see if a solution is possible. The engineers will report back in due course.

Repair works to manhole on foreshore

Last year I posted about an intermittent leak from a manhole on the foreshore adjacent to the Riverside walkway from Douglas Terrace. Scottish Water has recently advised me that permanent repair works will commence on Monday 28 April which will necessitate the closure of Douglas Terrace at the railway bridge during week commencing 12 May. All works should be completed during week commencing 19 May. Scottish Water is issuing a leaflet to residents in the area with the following information:

 

‘……A contractor has now been appointed to undertake permanent repair works which will eliminate the leak and reinstate the original foreshore condition. Discussions have been ongoing with Dundee City Council and SEPA to ensure that work within the inter-tidal zone can be done safely and with no environmental impact.

 

Work will commence on Monday 28th April and will see the contractor set up a site compound at the West Ferry Pumping Station with a linked working area on to the foreshore. This area will be fenced off in line with normal construction site practices. Demolition of the manhole will then take place over a number of days and into the following week. There will be some localised noise associated with this work but the activity will only take place during daylight hours, tidal conditions permitting.

 

One of the key aspects of the works will be the management of wastewater flows during the reconstruction works. In agreement with Dundee City Council, during the week commencing 12th May, wastewater flows will temporarily be pumped from Broughty Ferry Road into West Ferry Pumping Station. This will require a closure of Douglas Terrace at the railway bridge. A Traffic Management Plan has been agreed with the Council and will ensure access to property is maintained. We expect all works to be completed during the week commencing 19th May. We would like apologise for any temporary disruption that may be caused during these essential works…….’

 

Help with high hedges

The High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013 came into force on 1^st April 2014. Householders can now apply to the council for action to be taken in connection with a high hedge which affects the reasonable enjoyment of their property. The Act only relates to high hedges, which are defined as a hedge which is formed by a row of 2 or more trees or shrubs, rises to a height of more than 2 metres and forms a barrier to light. An application to the council is seen as a last resort and an applicant will need to show that they have taken all reasonable steps to resolve the matter. The council has set a fee of £400 to deal with an application. A refund of 50% of the fee will be available where applications are dismissed or withdrawn at an early date.

 

The council will notify the hedge owner that an application has been made, invite them to make representations and then someone from the council will go out to the property to assess the hedge. Once a decision has been made both parties will be notified. If the council determines that action should be taken the hedge owner will be given a deadline by which to meet the terms of the high hedge notice.  If they fail to take the remedial action on the hedge in that time the council can arrange for the work to be carried out and will have the power to recover the cost from the hedge owner.

 

Both sides have the same right of appeal to the Directorate of Planning and Environmental Appeals. 

 

 Please visit Dundee City Council’s web site for more detailed information.

Bus route diversions

I have been contacted by a number of residents about the diversion routes for the buses during the closure of Queen Street for resurfacing works. There are a lot of stops that won’t get a service; most of these are along Monifieth Road. Notices were due to be in place by today to advise passengers of the diversion. The real time signs at the bus shelters will show ‘bus stop out of use’.

Phase 1 (this Friday to Sunday) will be the most difficult period.  A temporary stop has been provided near Hotel Broughty Ferry and it is anticipated that another one will be provided near to The Cambustay. The number 5 will use Balgillo Road, Ballinard Road, Claypotts Road, West Queen Street, Victoria Road and Strathern Road.

Stagecoach buses will be diverted via Abertay Street, Nursery Road, Forthill Road Balgillo Road Ballinard Road, Victoria Road to Strathern Road (Claypotts Road, West Queen Street/Dundee Road).

From Monday only Stagecoach services will be affected but they will be able to use Fort Street.

Move to fortnightly bin collections approved

Two votes were taken at last night’s Environment Committee before the SNP administration eventually got its way and approval was given to make the change to the council’s domestic recycling service, including a move to fortnightly residual waste collections across much of Dundee as outlined in an earlier post.

 I supported a Labour Group amendment that called for full consultation to be undertaken with communities, residents and elected members on the implications of new regulations for the collection of recylcates and residual waste in the city. Speaking in the debate I acknowledged that significant public engagement and education would be carried out prior to the roll out of each phase of the new waste collection regime but what was missing was consultation on the adoption of the actual policy. All the opposition councillors voted for the amendment but it was defeated by the SNP majority.

At the start of the debate I had submitted an amendment that called on the committee to instruct the director of the environment department to prepare a further report with alternative options to improve and expand domestic recycling services within the city but retain a weekly residual waste collection. Most of the people who have contacted me about this matter want to be able to recycle more, particularly food waste, but they are concerned about the implications of grey wheelie bins not being emptied every week.  I didn’t think it was unreasonable to explore this option. Cllr. Fraser MacPherson submitted a very similar amendment so I withdrew my amendment, seconding Cllr. MacPherson’s instead. Again, this amendment was defeated by the SNP majority.

New domestic waste collection strategy

On Monday the council’s environment committee is being asked to approve a new domestic waste collection strategy which has the aim of ensuring compliance with the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and meeting new targets for recycling which are 60% of household waste by 2020 and 70% of all waste by 2025. Included in the measures being proposed are changing the weekly residual waste (grey wheelie bin) collection to a fortnightly collection.

The strategy will be implemented city wide in six phases over 2 years. A large part of Broughty Ferry is in the first phase which will commence later in 2014.  As part of the implementation an extensive programme of public engagement will be carried out at each implementation stage.

The service that people will receive is a bin for paper, card, metals and plastics that will be collected 2 weekly, a bin for glass that will be collected 4 weekly, a bin for garden waste that will be collected either 2 weekly or 4 weekly depending on the season, a container for food waste that will be collected weekly and the current grey wheelie bin for residual waste will be collected 2 weekly. Flatted properties will receive services appropriate to the housing type with varied collection methods.

I attended a briefing on the proposal given by the director of the environment department and I have asked some questions in advance of Monday’s meeting. While supportive of measures that improve recycling rates I have some concerns about these changes, particularly the loss of the weekly residual waste collection. I would be interested to hear what residents think.

Queen Street carriageway resurfacing work

I have received notification that carriageway resurfacing work is programmed to commence at Queen Street between Fort Street and St. Vincent Street on Friday 25 April 2014 and will last for approximately 15 days. The contractor for the works is Tayside Contracts. In the interest of public safety road closures will be implemented between Fort Street and St Vincent Street.

The works will be carried out in three phases to minimise disruption to traffic.

Phase 1:- Queen Street/Fort Street junction will be closed for 3 days from Friday 25 April to Sunday 27 April.

Phase 2:- Queen Street from East of Fort Street junction to St Vincent Street will be closed for a further 5 days from Monday 28 April.  Fort Street junction will be open.

Phase 3:- Queen Street from East of Fort Street junction to St Vincent Street will be closed for another 5 days from Tuesday 6 May, again the Fort Street junction will be open during this phase of the works.

It is proposed to have no road closures in place from Saturday 3 May to Monday 5 May.

During Phase 1 vehicular traffic will be diverted via Victoria Road, Ballinard Road, Balgillo Road, Forthill Road, Nursery Road, Abertay Street and reverse.

During Phases 2 and 3 vehicular traffic will be diverted via Fort Street, Nursery Road, Abertay Street and reverse.

Phase 2 and 3 closures will not be implemented until Phase 1 has been completed.

Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained throughout the works.

Spring is here

I was out and about today visiting constituents and while I was walking along Balgillo Road the lovely display of roadside daffodils at Muirside Terrace caught my eye, a sure sign that spring has definitely arrived.

Linlathen Road

Local residents have contacted me to ask whether the 40mph speed limit on Linlathen Road could be reduced to 30mph. It is the main access road to two housing areas that have a lot of children walking to school. People also use this route for  going to the Brae riding centre and the neurodisability centre.

I approached the City Development Department about it and I was told that the speed limit on Linlathen Road was approved in 2007. As it had no direct frontage it was considered that a 40mph speed limit was appropriate. A local speed limit review was carried out by the council on all A-class and B-class roads in Dundee in 2011 but apparently as Linlathen Road is an unclassified road it didn't feature in the  review.

I would be interested to hear from other local residents about what they think the speed limit on this road should be.

Pothole problem in Balmyle Road

When I was out and about today doing a ward inspection I noticed that two big potholes in Balymle Road still need to be filled.  I have sent a reminder to the roads maintenance partnership.

Barnhill Rock Garden

I arranged a site meeting today at Barnhill Rock Garden with one of the council’s roads engineers to look at the possibility of installing an additional dropped kerb on The Esplanade. It had been brought to my attention that the dropped kerbs to access the garden are at either end of it, which leaves a fair old distance for people to walk back. Stopping a vehicle half way along doesn’t help much either as anyone not so sure on their feet has to contend with the grass verge at that point. Although there is a significant camber on the verge the City Development Department thinks that it still might be possible to do something here however it will depend on the outcome of a more detailed survey and the cost of doing the work.

The intention would be to put a dropped kerb at the opposite side of The Esplanade as well, near to one of the gaps in the trip rail fencing. I previously contacted the Friends of Barnhill Rock Garden about it, and of course when a drawing is prepared showing what is proposed they will be consulted on it.

Bus service changes

I recently received notification from the council’s city development department about citywide changes to National Express bus routes from 4 May.

Those that include Broughty Ferry are:

• Service 5 will be combined with a new X5 service operating directly to Ninewells every 15 minutes. Along with the outer circle there will be eight departures each hour from Barnhill/Broughty Ferry toward Dundee city centre. The X5 will operate non-stop from Dalgleish Road to Seagate.

• Service 5N will be cancelled. The night bus service was introduced in 2012 but has not managed to attract sufficient numbers of users to make it sustainable.

• Service 9/10/11/12 (outer circle) will have its route slightly revised with the intention of offering a more direct service between Dundee city centre and Broughty Ferry. The direct connection from Barnhill to Stobswell will be removed as the bus will use Broughty Ferry Road/Blackscroft rather than Arbroath Road/Victoria Street.

I previously supported ‎community requests for a link to Stobswell to be re-established which is now being broken again.

Each time a new bus service is announced for Broughty Ferry I ask that it be routed along Dundee Road to improve the frequency of buses for residents in this location but the new X5 service will also go via Strathern Road.

I have contacted both the council’s transportation section and National Express Dundee about these changes.

Name required for a new road off of Albert Road

The section in the council’s City Development Department that has responsibility for street naming and numbering has advised me that a name is required for a new road associated with the development of 6 houses within the grounds of Broomfield Nurseries, 3 Albert Road. The applicant has put forward the name of "Broomhall Gardens" which I think is a good choice as it will keep the historic link to the existing B listed villa.

I contacted a local historian to find out if there were any other local links that might be incorporated in a name and he reminded me that there were once six mansions along the north side of Albert Road between Victoria Road and Claypotts Road.  In order they were: Aystree, Broomhall, Brackenbrae, Tay Lodge, Vinebank, and Taymount.  Tay Lodge has been demolished and was where Albert Gardens now stands.

Request for dropped kerbs in Guthrie Terrace

I have been contacted by local residents regarding the possibility of installing dropped kerbs in Guthrie Terrace near to St Margaret’s Church to provide an easier crossing point for wheelchairs and prams and less mobile pedestrians. To cross Guthrie Terrace to go west along Dalhousie Road people either have to go up to Invermark Terrace or they have to go down to Dalhousie Road, cross the road at the bottom then cross back again when they get to where they want to be. I have asked the City Development Department if anything can be done.