Beach Lane path

I’m pleased to see the improvement works that have been carried out on the path at Beach Lane that leads to the railway footbridge at Grassy Beach. Nearly every year during my time as the councillor for the West Ferry part of The Ferry ward I requested work to be done to this path to keep it clear of vegetation and make it safer underfoot.  Although these works were always carried out the path usually deteriorated again during the subsequent growing season. Hopefully this most recent makeover will be maintained to a good standard.

Parking action proposed at prominent location

Action is being considered by Dundee City Council in response to concerns that vehicles carrying advertisements are continually parked on the roadside, near to the junction of Dundee Road and West Queen Street.

For a number of years this prominent location has been used for mobile advertising. Cars, vans and trailers, all carrying advertisements for various services, have been left here, sometimes for weeks on end without ever being moved and most of the time there is a row of them. The result is a loss of parking spaces for residents and visitors. It also means that the area around the parked vehicles is left looking untidy because the gutter can’t be swept or sprayed with weed killer.   I am regularly contacted by constituents enquiring about whether anything can be done about it.

I  frequently raise the issue with the council’s transportation section and I have now been advised by the transportation manager that to control the use of this location options such as a single yellow line or limited waiting are being looked at. It will be considered as part of a periodic review of parking restrictions in the wider Broughty Ferry area to be carried out later this year.

As always I would welcome residents’ views on this matter. There are several stages to the introduction of a permanent traffic order, if that’s what is proposed, and members of the public can register their objection or support during the statutory consultation.

Scotland would be a completely separate state under international law

A new report from the UK Government has this week made clear that an independent Scotland would be regarded as a completely separate state under international law.

Professors James Crawford and Alan Boyle, leading experts on international law, have produced a 58 page legal opinion which says the overwhelming weight of legal opinion makes clear the UK would be regarded by the international community as the ‘continuing state’. The legal opinion confirms that a vote for independence would make Scotland a ‘successor state’ and specifically rejects the proposition, advanced by Scotland’s First Minister, that Scotland and the UK would both be regarded as two new states following any vote for independence.

It is crucial that people are able to consider the benefits that Scotland enjoys as a nation of five million people in a modern, devolved country. This report makes clear what the legal situation is. No one disputes that Scotland could be a separate state, but it would be far from straightforward. As the Prime Minister has said recently, Britain works well. Why break it?

Scotland Office Minister, David Mundell MP said: ‘The devolution settlement is capable of change when the case is made as the Scotland Act 2012 delivered by this government has shown. So it is simply wrong to characterise the referendum as a choice between change and no change. By changing and adapting the devolution settlement will continue to deliver the best of both worlds for Scotland. Independence would end it.’

Trip to Downing Street

On Monday I attended a reception at 10 Downing Street. I had never been there before and it was quite a thrill to walk up the staircase lined with pictures and photographs of former prime ministers, which previously I had only ever seen on television.

I was delighted to meet David Cameron and pleased to hear him speak passionately about Scotland remaining within the United Kingdom.

This was my first visit to London for a number of years I stopped over to take in some of the sights, including the Victoria and Albert Museum given its link with Dundee.

Budget savings proposed

On Wednesday I submitted some additional savings to the council’s chief executive for consideration at the council budget meeting on 14th February. These include £6,916 that is spent on alcohol purchases for the City Chambers and £7,000 that is spent providing councillors with food and refreshments. I also proposed that £750,000, which is distributed to six electoral wards to fund local community projects be allocated equally in 2013/14 across the eight wards in the city including Broughty Ferry and the West End.

My intention in identifying additional savings was to save the Friendly Bus from being axed but thankfully the SNP administration has dropped that idea due to the representations that were made.

Although the savings I have identified are modest in comparison to the overall council spend I think council tax payers in Dundee will be surprised to learn that these items haven’t already been cut from the budget.

The terms of my savings proposals are as follow:

Provisional Revenue Budget & Review of Charges 2013/14:

1. Corporate Services / Corporate Finance

    Delete Budget for Councillors Attendance at Conferences - £1,000

2. Corporate Services / Support Services

    Delete Budget for Alcohol Purchases - £ 6,916

3. Various Departments – Delete Budget for Hospitality:

            Chief Executive - £ 4,000

            City Development - £ 6,100           

            Communities & Policy - £ 4,280

            Social Work - £ 3,930

            Environment -  £ 1,000

            Corporate Services - £ 6,50

4. Corporate Services / Support Services

    Delete Budget for Food & Refreshments for Councillors - £ 7,000

     Total Savings - £ 40,726

High hedges

I thought readers would be interested to learn that on Tuesday the Scottish Parliament debated Stage 1 of the High Hedges (Scotland) Bill. Representing an area that has a great many mature gardens I fairly regularly receive complaints about high hedges. At the moment any dispute about garden hedges which encroach on neighbouring properties is a civil matter. The new law if introduced will allow council’s to help resolve disputes about hedges of a certain height.

Scottish Conservative local government spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell MSP said: “This issue has been debated in the Scottish Parliament for nearly a decade. Disputes over high hedges can last a number of years, and can have an adverse effect on the health and wellbeing of both parties. Residents would be able to complain to councils on the basis that hedges on neighbouring land are considered to have an ‘adverse effect on the reasonable enjoyment of domestic property’.

 It’s important to note that this bill would be intended as an option of last resort. It’s also crucial that the cost of high hedge orders does not become so prohibitive that local authorities or applicants will not use them.”