Ruth makes positive case for Scotland to remain in UK

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson MSP will tomorrow make a speech in Edinburgh about the constitution.

Speaking, as head of the party’s Conservative Friends of the Union campaign, she will make the positive case for Scotland remaining part of the UK.

Ruth is expected to say:

“Just think about the benefits to Scottish business of being part of that single UK market.

“We export twice as much to England as we do to any other part of the world - £45.5 billion annually – and over the last decade the value to Scotland of trade with the rest of the UK has increased by more than 60%.

“If we were to leave the United Kingdom it would inevitably mean one set of rules and regulations in Scotland and another set just across the border in the remainder of the UK.

“Different financial regulations; different employment laws; different insurance requirements; different tax authorities; different accreditations and qualifications with which small companies would be obliged to contend…

“All barriers to trade, obstructions to economic growth and impediments to the job creation in Scotland we all want to see.

“Let’s take a very specific example; Scotland’s financial services industry which supports more than 160,000 jobs.

“More than £9.9 billion of the business Scotland does with the rest of the United Kingdom is made up of financial and insurance activities.

“That’s twice the export value of any other individual sector of our economy.

“Being part of a single UK market with common financial regulations means Scottish firms can sell their products like mortgages and pensions anywhere in the UK.

“And here are some facts which might surprise you.

“Last year, Scottish firms sold 38,965 mortgage policies within Scotland.  But they sold 204,645 mortgages to households across the rest of the UK.

“In other words, 84% of mortgages sold by Scottish firms were to people living in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

“In the same year, Scottish firms sold 19,075 pension products to Scottish households.  But over the same period they sold 186,627 across the rest of the UK.

“I think that puts matters firmly in perspective.  

"A sixth of a million Scottish jobs, nearly £10 billion of financial service exports; and most of that built on doing business within the single UK market.

"The facts are clear; Scotland is more successful and more prosperous by working in partnership with the rest of the three nations in the UK."

Scottish Water update

Scottish Water has issued a further update on the work to deal with the intermittent wastewater leaks near to Douglas Terrace:

“I am writing with an update regarding the work on Broughty Ferry Beach near Douglas Terrace.

I can confirm temporary pumping has continued however due to local concerns about noise, our operators Veolia have stopped using a diesel generator and installed an electric pump to support flow transfer through the pumping station.

As confirmed in my previous response, work to fix the leak at the Douglas Terrace manhole was completed over the weekend of 10 August.  The temporary pumping mentioned above has also been successful in stopping any further leaks from the walkway manhole.

With regards to the permanent repair of the walkway manhole, it’s anticipated that a contractor will be appointed by the end of September, early October and I will continue to keep you updated once a start date for this work has been confirmed.

I understand SEPA have continued to inspect the area and no further concerns or issues have been raised.”

Temporary traffic order Gray Street

Dundee City Council propose to make an Order under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating footway and kerbing works.  The Order is expected to be in force for six weeks from 23 September 2013.  Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months.

The effect of the Order is to prohibit temporarily all northbound vehicular traffic in Gray Street, Broughty Ferry from King Street to Brook Street.

Pedestrians will be diverted to the east footway.  No parking will be available on the west side of Gray Street for the duration of the works.

An alternative route will be available via King Street, St Vincent Street and Brook Street.

Please forward any comments you may have regarding this proposal to Mark Cobb, Network Management Team, City Development Department, Dundee House, 50 North Lindsay Street, Dundee  DD1 1LS, no later than five working days prior to the commencement date.  If you have any queries please contact Mr Cobb on 01382 433082.

Sculpture at Broughty Ferry Library

Visitors to Broughty Ferry Library in recent days might have noticed that the sculpture of the older gentleman sitting on a bench with a book, being approached by a cat, has been removed. The picture shows the space where it should be located.

No need to worry, it’s only been taken away for some repair work to be carried out.

The sculpture, by David Annand, was commissioned by Broughty Ferry Art Society and erected in the grounds of the library in 1992. It was brought to my attention by a member of the society that a couple of the straps at the back of the bench were broken and there was rot in some of the wood. I contacted the council about it and the environment department has uplifted it for repair.

Recycling centre changes

Following the decision by Dundee City Council’s policy and resources committee, from today the facilities at Baldovie and Riverside will both accept garden waste and bulky and mixed waste.

Leak of wastewater update

I have received some information from Scottish Water regarding the intermittent leaks of wastewater at two manhole covers on the foreshore at Douglas Terrace and at the walkway. The walkway location will require major works to remove the leak risk.

The manhole cover on the Douglas Terrace side of the West Ferry Pumping Station was repaired on 10 August so further risk of leakage has been eliminated at this location. 

Copied below are the answers to questions I put to Scottish Water and the responses received:

How long will the major works take at the walkway leak location?

We are still waiting on a programme and method of working from our PFI Contractor.  We know from experience that ground conditions and tidal working will present challenges.  As soon as we have details, these will be communicated to all local stakeholders.

Will there continue to be leaks until this work is carried out?

The leak at the Douglas Terrace manhole has been repaired.  The second leak was stopped on Friday 9 August as a result of the additional pumping at West Ferry Pumping Station.  We do not anticipate any more leaks but the short term risk remains until a full repair has been undertaken.  We will be reviewing the pumping situation to determine if the temporary arrangement is still required.

Will the walkway need to be closed when the major works are carried out?

We do not anticipate any need to close the walkway.  Access for repair works will be via the route recently used by Kilmac for the walkway works (i.e. down the slipway at West Ferry Pumping Station).

What volume of wastewater is being leaked into the river and what are the health/environmental implications?

The leak volume will be dependent on a range of factors, mainly weather and operational in nature.  As indicated above, the remaining leak has been stopped.  If the leak occurs again then the discharge rate will be in the low numbers of litres per second.  The area has been inspected by SEPA and whilst there was liquid evident, there were no other sewage related solids present.  I understand that SEPA contacted Dundee City Council Environmental Health to keep them appraised of the situation.  As there is no discharge at present we do not anticipate any issues in the water environment.  Daily checks at low tide will continue to ensure there is no discharge from the leak location.

Council meeting update

There were a number of items on the agenda for last night’s council committee meetings that had a particular Broughty Ferry interest.

The Policy and Resources Committee agreed to reinstate the garden waste facility at Baldovie Recycling Centre. This will be well received by Broughty Ferry residents as they will no longer be faced with a car journey across Dundee to dispose of their garden waste. The director of the environment department told the committee that it would probably take a couple of weeks to make the necessary changes. I asked for councillors to be supplied with a note of the figures of the tonnage collected at the recycling centre in the first quarter of this year compared to previous years.

Broughty Ferry Education and Recreation Association (BERA) was awarded a grant of £3,000. BERA was part of a learning communities inspection earlier this year. It received very positive feedback from the inspection team on its programme and voluntary activity within the community.

The City Development Committee agreed to make the order to reduce the speed limit on Dundee Road. No objections were received during the statutory consultation period. I asked if advisory signs notifying drivers of the new speed limit would be in place for the commencement of the new limit (unlike on Monifieth Road when it took a number of weeks) and I was told by the head of transportation that this would be the case. It is anticipated that the new speed limit will be in force before the end of the year.

The City Development Committee also considered a report about the completion of the Dundee coastal flood study. A number of measures are proposed where there is a risk of coastal flooding. It is unlikely that funding to implement any of the measures will became available before 2015.  The total estimated cost is not short of £36million. A prioritised schedule of works has been developed so that as funding becomes available the council will target the areas of high risk first.  Attention will initially be focussed on the central Dundee area. The next prioritised area is Broughty Ferry. The outline scheme description for Brougty Ferry beach is to recharge the dunes and provide rock armour erosion protection where required.

 The proposal for Broughty Ferry town is to provide a raised flood wall with wave recurve and glass panelling. I made the point at committee that this would have a significant visual impact and change the appearance of Broughty Ferry’s waterfront and I asked whether there were alternatives and I also said that there needs to be a full consultation with the local community about what is being proposed. In response I was advised by the city engineer that the outline scheme was the preferred scheme but it is not fixed and that there would be a consultation process involving all the stakeholders.

An item was approved recommending acceptance of an offer for the purchase of the former Eastern Primary School site for residential development.

Castle Green

I was approached by a constituent on behalf of a mothers and toddlers group who asked me if it would be possible to have more toddler swings at Castle Green. There is a swing for disabled children, which was very kindly donated by the Rotary Club of Abertay, and this can also be used by toddlers. It requires a seatbelt which is kept by the park attendant and the council’s head of environmental management has suggested that his department might need to put up some form of notice to bring this to the public's attention.  He also advised me that he would explore the possibility of providing an additional swing unit at Castle Green. This is to be considered within his capital allocation for the current financial year however there is already quite a demand on the fund.

Castle Green is a very popular destination for families and hopefully the council will be able to respond positively to requests for new and additional equipment.

Recycling centre changes binned

I was pleased to see that the council has decided to scrap the restriction on the types of materials that can be accepted at Baldovie and Riverside recycling centres.

There is an item coming up at the Policy and Resources Committee on Monday about this and the agenda note states that the restrictions have proven to be very unpopular due to the additional travel distances required and it is proposed to amend the reconfiguration of the sites to allow green waste to be accepted at Baldovie and mixed waste to be accepted at Riverside.

From the day these changes were implemented I received complaints from residents about the inconvenience and additional cost of having to trail across to the other side of Dundee to dispose of garden waste and I urged the council’s administration to rethink the matter.

Thankfully common-sense has prevailed and the council has come up with a way to reinstate the previous arrangements.

David McLetchie

I was very sorry to learn that David McLetchie, the former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, had passed away. David had a great intellect and wit and the Scottish Parliament will be a poorer place without him. Many tributes have been paid and I have posted below the comments by the Prime Minister issued by the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party press office.

Prime Minister David Cameron said:

“I was deeply saddened by the news of David’s death. David has been an immense figure in Scottish politics and a towering strength to our party in Scotland. He will be sorely missed.

“When devolution came, he picked up the reins and made sure that the Scottish Conservatives had a strong voice at Holyrood.

“He was one of Scottish politics’ most formidable intellects and finest debaters. All he did was carried out with dedication and conviction and his passing leaves a gap in the lives of all who knew him.

“My heartfelt condolences go to Sheila and his family.”

Not much left of Tayside House

On my way to the City Chambers today I stopped to take a photograph of the open space that now exists at the corner of Crichton Street and Whitehall Crescent. Just about all that is left of Tayside House is a pile of rubble.  Apparently about 18,000 tonnes of rubble has been produced by the demolition and it will be used by contractors working on other waterfront projects. The old Olympia Leisure Centre and Hilton Hotel are due to be taken down over the next few months.

Leak of wastewater

I have received notification from Scottish Water that it has identified an issue at West Ferry Pumping Station which has resulted in two intermittent leaks of wastewater on to the foreshore.  These two weak points in the system, at Douglas Terrace and at the walkway between Douglas Terrace and Grassy Beach, were inspected by Scottish Water and SEPA on Friday. Scottish Water has advised that along with its PFI partners Catchment Tay Ltd and Veolia Water it is working through the following actions to deal with it:

“Installation of additional temporary pumping at West Ferry Pumping Station to draw down the level in the sewerage system. This was implemented today (Friday) and has relieved the pressure on the system and stopped the leaks to the foreshore. Unfortunately, this action requires the 24hr use of a generator for a period of time. Veolia Water have sourced the quietest generator on the market to try and avoid any noise disruption and we hope this is effective.

Following the success of the additional pumping, a new seal will be installed at the Douglas Terrace leak location. Veolia Water will continue to work over this weekend to complete the work. 

Also, once the level in the system has been drawn down, Veolia Water will need to take access to the Pumping Station to inspect all below ground assets and ensure optimum operation going forward. The station has worked effectively for a number of years and we will restore this level of performance.

Major works will be required at the walkway leak location, entailing demolition and reconstruction of an underground chamber. This will remove the leak risk and reinstate the beach to its former condition. Veolia Water have been instructed to undertake these works but a contractor has yet to be appointed. We will provide a further update in advance of these works.”

Updates will be given to SEPA and Veolia Water will continue regular inspections until things are back to normal.

Following receipt of its notification I emailed Scottish Water’s Regional Community Manager with some questions including how long the major works will take at the walkway leak location, will the walkway need to be closed for the works, will there continue to be intermittent leaks until this work is carried out and what volume of wastewater has been leaked into the river.

Bus stop to be provided

It has been brought to my attention by constituents that there is no bus stop on Victoria Street across from Wallacetown Health Centre.

One of the reasons that the outer circle bus service was brought back was in response to the concerns highlighted about the difficulty older residents in Barnhill and Forthill were having in accessing medical and dental practices in the Stobswell area. However anyone who has to attend Wallacetown Health Centre has to alight at either the stop before on Arbroath Road at Kemback Street or the stop after on Victoria Road. There is a stop nearby at Brown Constable Street for the journey home.

I raised the matter with the council’s head of transportation and I have been advised that there is a bus bay marking on the road heading towards the city centre at Crescent Street, but the bus pole is not there. 

A number of bus stop poles are to be either reinstated or removed around Dundee and Victoria Street has been added to the list of works. I have been assured that it will be one of the first to be attended to.

Graffiti vandalism

The pedestrian footbridge over the railway line at Balmossie Halt has been subject to graffiti vandalism in recent days. Network Rail quickly sent a maintenance team out to paint over it, but not long afterwards the graffiti reappeared.

This sort of mindless behaviour is totally unacceptable. I contacted the local community police about it and I was advised that the area would be given extra attention.

 Deterring graffiti is a priority in the Broughty Ferry policing plan and previous episodes of graffiti vandalism have been effectively dealt with.

Barnhill Rock Garden

Last week Barnhill Rock Garden was again awarded a Green Flag from Keep Scotland Beautiful. 

The Green Flag is the national standard for parks and green spaces.  It means that Barnhill Rock Garden is considered to be one of the best green spaces in the country. 

The garden in highly regarded by local residents and visitors and our thanks must go to The Friends of Barnhill Rock Garden and the staff from the Environment Department of Dundee City Council who maintain it to such a consistently high standard.

Temporary traffic order Hill Street

I have been advised that the driving of any vehicle in Hill Street (from Forthill Road to Hill Road), will be prohibited on Tuesday 6 August 2013 for 1 day for manhole repair works.

Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained.

Alternative routes for vehicles are available via Forthill Road, Fort Street, Queen Street, Camphill Road, and Maryfield Road.