New Year disruption to Broughty Ferry roads

Some major roads in Broughty Ferry will face serious disruption for many weeks in the New Year. Scottish Hydro Electric is carrying out a cable renewal scheme which is anticipated will take 16 weeks to complete. The scheme, commencing on 7 January, involves an electricity upgrade between Mid Craigie and Brook Street. The proposed route is Arbroath Road, Claypotts Junction, Claypotts Road, Queen Street, St Vincent Street and Brook Street.

I have been advised that the following road closures require to be in place to carry out the work: Douglas Road (Kingsway East-Longtown Road); Kemnay Place (Douglas Road-Arbroath Road); Arbroath Road (eastbound between Kingsway East and Fairfield Road); Claypotts Road (Claypotts Terrace-Queen Street); St Vincent Street (Queen Street-Brook Street) and finally Brook Street (St Vincent Street-New Road). The road closures will be a series of rolling sectional closures.

The traffic management proposals will be submitted to the council by the contractor for review and approval prior to commencement.

I will provide a programme showing the phasing of the closures when I have sight of it.

Council credit cards

Performance rights to show the musical Grease, skateboards, and a machine to repel dangerous dogs were among the items bought on council credit cards, figures have shown.

Local authorities have spent nearly £150 million on credit or procurement cards since 2007, including significant sums on meals, hotel stays and functions. Despite the huge spend, half of Scotland’s councils cannot detail exactly what the cash has been spent on, despite a tightening of budgets. The breakdown was obtained by the Scottish Conservatives under Freedom of Information.

Aberdeenshire Council spent £1,100 bid to have the rights to show the John Travolta and Olivia Newton John classic and £500 on a “safer sex box”, while Argyll and Bute spent £700 in plush restaurant Planet Hollywood. Other examples from the past two years include East Ayrshire spending £100 on a Santa suit, £500 on skateboards, £30 on a “dog dazer”, £400 on glowstick necklaces, and a similar amount on two deluxe hairdryers. Also included in the breakdown was East Lothian Council forking out £900 at Walt Disney Theatrical in London and Moray Council spending £2,000 on theatre tickets.

Among the smaller items revealed were £15 on the Guinness Book of World Records for Midlothian Council and a £35 investment from Fife Council trialling Facebook adverts.

Dundee City Council didn’t respond to the Freedom of Information request so I have contacted the council’s head of democratic and legal services to find out why this was.

Damaged gullies on Dalhousie Road

I have been contacted by a number of people regarding pooling that occurs on Dalhousie Road near to its junction with Guthrie Terrace. The two rainwater gullies at this location have been blocked by sand bags for some time.

I raised the matter with the council’s city engineer and was advised that the gullies are damaged and the sand bags are to remain in place until work can be carried out to replace the gully pots and reconnect the gully tail to the sewer within Dalhousie Road. These works are provisionally programmed to commence on 21st January 2013 subject to Tayside Contracts winter maintenance commitments at that time.

The pooling at this location has been so much worse in recent days due to the incessant rainfall so I’m pleased that there is a planned date for rectifying the problem.

Car park gritting

Queen Street car park

I have been asked by residents if the car parks in Broughty Ferry will be gritted in the icy weather. Users of the car parks will recall how bad they were during the hard winter a couple of years ago.

Two weeks ago the car parks were a bit slippery underfoot. I raised the matter with the city engineer and he advised me that in icy conditions parking staff are responsible for checking the council's car parks and utilising hand spreaders as appropriate. The Roads Maintenance Partnership becomes involved in red alert snow conditions.

I will keep an eye on the situation and revert to the relevant council department should problems occur.

Civic cars

There was an item on the agenda of this week’s meeting of the council’s Policy and Resources Committee seeking agreement to replace the council’s two civic cars. Both vehicles had been leased since November 2008 and as the initial lease period of three years had expired the leases were operating on a month to month basis. It was agreed that the Lord Provost’s official limousine, TS1, would be replaced but in respect of the second car, which is used to transport councillors and officials to meetings and conferences,  I proposed that this shouldn’t be replaced, generating  a saving for the council tax payers of Dundee of about £6000 a year.

The council has a staff travel plan that expects employees to consider whether their journey is completely necessary or if an alternative, like a telephone conference call or email discussion would be more appropriate. If a meeting is needed journeys of up to one mile are expected to be on foot and those greater than a mile within Dundee are expected to be made by bus. I argued that councillors should be expected to comply with the same considerations as council staff and having a second civic car readily available would make it more likely that people would use it. Unfortunately my proposal was voted down by the administration.

Since the meeting took place I have received a number of supportive comments from local residents about the stance I took on this matter.  

Separate Scotland would have to reapply to EU

The president of the European Commission has confirmed a separate Scotland would have to apply to become part of the EU. Jose Manuel Barroso said in a televised interview that it was “obvious” any new state would have to reapply for EU membership. His views back up those of numerous experts on the issue, and contradict SNP assertions that Scotland would automatically be an EU member state.

Speaking on BBC’s Hard Talk this morning, Mr Barroso said: “If there is a new state of course that state has to apply for membership and to negotiate the conditions with the other member states.” He went on to say a separate Scotland would “certainly” be a new state, and as such “has to negotiate into the European Union”. On the other hand, he added, the UK without Scotland would be allowed to continue as part of the EU.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson MSP said: “This is a definitive intervention from the President of the European Commission, which Alex Salmond simply cannot ignore. Now we have it straight from the horse’s mouth, the First Minister has to explain why he has been so blasé about such an important matter affecting the future of our country.

One of the SNP’s main planks for separation was that Scotland would simply walk into the EU. But Alex Salmond’s assertions and attempts to hoodwink people have now been laid bare for all to see.

The fact is, Alex Salmond has never even bothered to speak to Europe about this issue, preferring to make it up as he goes along. If Scotland were to separate in 2014, can it afford to wander around in the international wilderness for years on end? This would have major consequences, affecting every fabric of life in Scotland, including our farmers, fishermen and people in financial services.

Scotland benefits from billions of pounds of exports to the rest of the UK and Europe by being part of a free trade area. But being left on the outside of the EU would put all this in jeopardy.

The uncertainty being experienced now because of the referendum would simply intensify, yet the SNP blunders on regardless.

This matters to ordinary Scots as all new member states must sign up to the single currency and can't opt out of the Schengen border arrangements, like the rest of the UK. It also puts in doubt the rebate at a potential cost of many millions of pounds to the Scottish.

If Alex Salmond cannot be trusted to be straight with the people of Scotland on something so fundamental to separation, then why should we believe anything else he says on why Scotland should break away from the family of the UK?"

Anton Drive wall

The residents of Anton Drive will soon see work commence on replacing the retaining wall on the opposite side of the road from their homes.

I attend walkabouts of the Forthill area with local residents and officers of the council and in recent years the condition of the wall has been highlighted as a concern.

The council has ownership of the wall with the Housing Department being the duty holder as a legacy associated with creating a site boundary for the Anton Drive development. The land supported by the wall is in private ownership apart from a narrow strip behind the wall. The land is also subject to tree preservation orders.

Temporary protective fencing was installed as a public safety measure and the council’s structural engineers designed several retention options in liaison with Dundee City Council's Environment Department Construction Division in order to establish an economic remedial solution, which would also minimise inconvenience to the residents and build within land owned by the council without disturbing or removing support from adjacent land in private ownership during construction. 

On Monday the Housing Committee will be asked to approve £94,144 of expenditure to allow the work to proceed.

Final stretch

Work starts tomorrow upgrading the final 220 metre section of the Douglas Terrace walkway. The contract for the work amounts to £887,579 and includes widening of the elevated walkway, removal of the existing parapet and replacement with a new post and rail barrier, infilling under the structure and new surfacing, all to match the previously refurbished sections.  

My constituents will be aware that I have been championing improvements for this walkway for a decade and a half.  During this time various sections have been refurbished and it will be very satisfying to see the walkway completed in its entirety.

Christmas Lunch

Jackson Carlaw MSP, deputy leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, was the guest of honour at Dundee and South Angus Conservative Association’s Christmas lunch on Saturday at the Woodlands Hotel.

Jackson gave a wonderfully witty speech fitting for the occasion, but he also spoke about what needs to be done to ensure a convincing victory for the no campaign at the independence referendum in 2014.

The members present thoroughly enjoyed the occasion and I had the honour of proposing the vote of thanks.

Disabled parking in Gray Street

Residents have contacted me about the faded disabled parking bay road markings in Gray Street.

 I took this up with the council’s head of transportation and in response he has advised me that he will arrange for the bays to be included within a future disabled bay repainting programme after checking that they meet the current standard.