Monday’s committees

A lot of business was dealt with at the series of council committee meetings held on Monday evening. On a local issue, the City Development Committee agreed to proceed with traffic regulation orders that will see additional public electric vehicle charging points being installed across the city, including two at Queen Street car park. In response to a question I asked, the committee was advised that the charging points would be available 24 hours a day and would be accessed by the use of smart card technology.

 At the Policy and Resources Committee there was an item requesting the committee’s instructions in regard to making a submission to the Smith Commission, which is the cross party body tasked with producing recommendations for further devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament. The council’s SNP administration produced a list of further powers it would like to see devolved (I pointed out that the Commission is keen to avoid a simple ‘shopping list’ of further powers); I proposed that no submission be made by the council, leaving it instead to the political groups and individual councillors to submit their own views. I said that the submission proposed by the administration only represented the views of the SNP and not those of every elected member. I mentioned what the Scottish Conservatives position is and stressed that the further development of Scottish devolution must strengthen the Union, upholding the clearly stated majority view of Scottish voters. My proposal was defeated by 15 votes to 3.

The committee also agreed that a draft Gaelic Language Plan go forward as a basis for consultation but with no commitment on the part of the council to implement all or any of the recommendations. The Scottish Government requires local authorities to develop a Gaelic language plan with the aim of raising the status and profile of Gaelic.

The council's draft plan will be published on 1^st November with the 31^st December as the deadline for comments. The outcome of the consultation will be submitted to the committee in February.  Whether or not you intend to respond formally to the consultation I would be interested in knowing what you think about this matter.

The Esplanade- cycle path

I am often asked why cyclists use the pavement on The Esplanade rather than the carriageway. The sign at the east end of The Esplanade appears to direct cyclists, coming from Monifieth, along the north footway. I asked the Environment Department about it and in response I have been advised that the footways are not to cycleway standard and as The Esplanade is wide and has traffic calming it is ideal for on road cycling to be promoted. Four additional signs are to be installed along the footway to encourage the use of the carriageway, the exact wording to be agreed with the traffic engineers.

There is an item coming before the Environment Committee on Monday requesting approval to carry out works on the green circular route and core paths that will see improvements being made to path surfaces, signage and lining at various locations. The additional signs for The Esplanade are to be added to this programme of works. I’m told they should be in place before the end of the year.

St. Vincent Street railway underpass

During the heavy rains last week I was contacted by a resident about the St. Vincent Street railway underpass which, along with many other locations, had a significant pool of water form across the carriageway. There was an historic flooding problem at this location which I had a part in resolving a few years ago, it hadn’t flooded again until last week. Not wanting to see a return to the old problem I contacted the city engineer’s office about it and received the following response:

 

‘This appears to have been an isolated incident due in part to the gully gratings at the St Vincent Street/ Monifieth Road/ Whinny Brae junction being partially blocked by leaves and other detritus. This would have slowed the rate at which the rainwater entered the drainage system causing some temporary flooding of the carriageways. The gully gratings have now been cleared and the gullies themselves appear to be functioning correctly however they will be checked and cleared by the gully cleaning machine as a precaution. A request has been passed to Environment Department to sweep the road channels in this area clear of the gathered leaves and other debris. The Road Maintenance Partnership inspector for the area will continue to monitor the area during any heavy and/or sustained rainfall for any reoccurrence.’

Temporary traffic order and bus diversion routes

Queen Street from the east side of the junction of Queen Street and Claypotts Road to the west side of the junction of Queen Street and Fort Street will be closed to vehicles for 5 working days from Monday 13 October to allow for the installation of a new pedestrian crossing. Alternative routes for vehicles are available via Claypotts Road/Balgillo Road/Forthill Road/Fort Street and reverse. This Order also prohibits the southbound exit from Church Street into Queen Street. An alternative route for this manoeuvre is available via Seafield Road/Davidson Street/Claypotts Road. From Wednesday 15 October the driving of any vehicles in Church Street (from Queen Street to Brook Street) will be prohibited. Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained.

During this period buses will divert as undernoted:

 

Eastbound

 

Service 5/X5 - Normal route to Strathern Road then Victoria Road - Dundee Road - West Queen Street - Claypotts Road - Ballinard Road - Balgillo Road then normal route.

Service 10/12 - Normal route to Strathern Road then Victoria Road - Dundee Road - West Queen Street  - Claypotts Road - Ballinard Road - Balgillo Road - Forthill Road - Nursery Road then normal route.

Service 73/73A/73B - Normal route to Strathern Road then Victoria Road - Ballinard Road - Balgillo Road - Forthill Road - Fort Street - Queen Street then normal route.

Service 75 - Normal route to West Queen Street then Claypotts Road - Ballinard Road - Balgillo Road - Forthill Road - Fort Street - Queen Street then normal route.

Service 78A/78C - Normal route to Strathern Road then Victoria Road - Ballinard Road - Balgillo Road then normal route.

Service 79A/79C - Normal route to Strathern Road then Victoria Road - Ballinard Road - Balgillo Road - Forthill Road - Fort Street - Queen Street then normal route.

Service 206 - Unaffected.

 

Westbound

 

Service 5/X5/9/11 - Normal route to Nursery Road then Forthill Road - Balgillo Road - Ballinard Road - Claypotts Road - West Queen Street - Dundee Road - Victoria Road - Strathern Road then normal route.

Service 73/73A/73B - Normal route to Queen Street then Fort Street - Forthill Road - Balgillo Road - Ballinard Road - Victoria Road - Strathern Road then normal route.

Service 75 - Normal route to Queen Street then Fort Street - Forthill Road - Balgillo Road - Ballinard Road - Claypotts Road - West Queen Street then normal route.

Service 78A/78C - Normal route to Balgillo Road then Ballinard Road - Victoria Road - Strathern Road then normal route.

Service 79A/79C - Normal route to Queen Street then Fort Street - Forthill Road - Balgillo Road - Ballinard Road - Victoria Road - Strathern Road and then normal route.

Service 206 - Normal route to Fort Street then Queen Street - Gray Street then normal route.

Emergency revetment works completed

I previously posted that during the storms at the start of the year serious damage occurred to the coastal defence on The Esplanade and the timber walkway, near to the Glass Pavilion. Emergency revetment works have since been carried out. The area behind the revetment which was recently used as a compound has been grassed over.

Community Charge write off

I was disappointed but not surprised to hear that the SNP Government is to prevent councils from recovering outstanding community charge debts. This move is unfair to those Scots who paid the community charge in good faith, subsidising those who could afford to pay but chose not to. Nobody likes paying taxes but in a democracy we observe the law and recognise our social responsibility in helping to pay for public services. Writing of these debts sends out completely the wrong message; in Dundee we have one of the lowest in year council tax collection rates in Scotland and this move by the SNP is unlikely to do anything to improve our position.

 

I checked with Dundee City Council’s finance officers about how much community charge remains outstanding in Dundee and I was told that as at the 31st March of this year it was £1.81m. Despite Alex Salmond’s contention that a very small sum is recouped each year, in Dundee in the last financial year £56,975 was recovered, which is not an insignificant amount of money.

Dundee Road railway bridge

Residents asked me if the ivy on the Dundee Road railway bridge could be cut back a bit as it is impeding the pavement, which is very narrow at this location. I raised the matter with the Roads Maintenance Partnership and in response the city engineer advised me:

‘This bridge was inspected recently and the problem you mentioned was noted. As part of this year's bridges routine maintenance works programme, the vegetation will be cut back to ensure that it does not impede pedestrians. This should be carried out in the near future.’

SNP spending choices robbed NHS of £700 million

 Scottish Conservatives press release

 

The SNP’s decision to not increase spending on Scotland’s NHS in line with UK levels has deprived hospitals and patients of £700 million, research has revealed. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) confirmed that, since 2009/10, the UK Government has increased health spending in real terms by 4.4 per cent. Alex Salmond claimed he would match NHS funding south of the border, but in the same period the level of spending actually dropped by 1.2 per cent. Had the SNP matched Westminster spending, Scotland’s NHS would have benefited from an additional £700 million.

 The SNP previously tried to rubbish the IFS claims, stating its analysis had also included spending commitments like the Commonwealth Games, therefore skewing the statistics. However, the IFS contacted the SNP on September 17 to make clear this was not the case, and the comparison between health budgets in Scotland and England was like-for-like. Despite this, both health secretary Alex Neil (on September 24) and Alex Salmond (today during First Minister’s Questions) continued to stick to the line that the IFS report was incorrect.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson MSP said: “The Prime Minister promised to increase health spending in real terms – and he has. Alex Salmond made a pledge to increase NHS spending – but he has broken this to the tune of £700 million. He now has to explain where that money has gone, and what the SNP is going to do to ensure spending on the NHS increases in years to come.

“What’s worse, the SNP attempted to rubbish the analysis by the IFS – an independent body – in the run up to the referendum. Despite being told in great detail that this was wrong on September 17, both the health secretary and the First Minister have repeated this blatant inaccuracy as recently as today. That’s not good enough, and a thoroughly pathetic way to try to wriggle out of some very damning analysis.

“It’s ironic that the Scottish Government tried to fight a referendum on the NHS, when all the while it was cutting the very same budgets that were being increased south of the border.”