Graffiti vandalism Barnhill

I was really annoyed to see the graffiti vandalism that has occurred in Barnhill this week. I can’t understand why anyone would want to destroy their environment in this way. The green-coloured paint was sprayed on garage doors, house walls, phone boxes, bus stops and even vehicles were targeted!

Action against graffiti vandalism was one of the priorities identified by the community for inclusion in the local policing plan so hopefully the person responsible for this recent episode will soon be apprehended. I have contacted the police about it and I have also asked the council’s environment department to arrange a clean up.

I would urge anyone with information to contact Police Scotland on 101. We need to make sure that this sort of unacceptable behaviour is stopped.

Lollipop people for Barnhill Primary School

Over the last week or so I have been contacted by parents of children at Barnhill Primary School regarding the continued lack of school crossing patrols. Of particular concern is the crossing point on Balgillo Road at Falkland Crescent. I raised this with the director of the council’s education department, stressing the need for urgent action to be taken.

I have been advised by the officer who has responsibility for school crossing patrols that if any other patrollers become available he will try to cover this location for the last week of term.  It is anticipated that the regular school crossing patroller will be in place for the first day of next term.

The council continues to advertise and interview for new school crossing patrollers and the expectation is that a recent recruitment exercise will result in all three points at Barnhill Primary School being fully staffed.

Those parents who contacted me also asked if the close proximity of the school could be highlighted to drivers and suggested part-time 20mph signage. I contacted the council’s head of transportation about this and is response he advised me that the current part-time 20mph signage locations were agreed with the police and they follow Scottish Government guidance which states that the 20 mph signage should be over as short a length of road as possible and must be on the school frontage.  This is so drivers can associate the 20 mph limit with the school. Balgillo Road is remote from the school and it was considered unsuitable for part-time 20mph signage.  However he is going to ask that appropriate signage is considered to support the school crossing patroller position.

Gray Street railway underpass

At the beginning of last year the railway underpass in Gray Street received a much needed makeover. New roof lighting was installed and a full width steel plate walkway was provided at a lower level than the narrow elevated walkway it replaced.

One of the steel plates appears to have become loose as there is considerable bounce in it when people are using it and it makes a pretty loud bang. I have reported it to the city engineer requesting that it be repaired.

I have also mentioned that the surfaces could do with another deep clean, particularly the walls which continue to be stained by the leakage through the bridge deck.

Council meetings

A number of council committees were held tonight. There was an item on the Social Work Committee seeking approval for elected member representation at the Criminal Justice Conference of the Association of Directors of Social Work, which takes place at Crieff Hydro at a cost of £399 plus VAT per person. There will also be a cost for travel and subsistence.

The SNP administration proposed that one member from its group attend plus one member from the opposition councillors. I proposed that there be no elected member representation. I don't believe that there is any need for councillors to go to conferences like this at taxpayers' expense. Senior council officers attending in respect of their job role could quite easily cascade to elected members any information.

When it came to the vote I only received the support of one other councillor; the other 24 councillors who were present voted in favour of elected members attending the conference.

The City Development Committee agreed to adopt the same winter maintenance policy as it did last year. This is an improved policy based on the detailed review carried out following the severe winter of 2010/11.

When considering the City Development Department performance indicators the committee heard that 27.7% of Dundee's road network is in need of repair and that the council’s capital budget for carriageway reconstruction is only able to maintain this position rather than improve on it. 

The Environment Committee was told that the council is in the process of identifying dog fouling hot spots for attention. I know there is some concern about this in Broughty Ferry so it is an initiative I will be taking a close interest in.

Better Together action day

I had two busy surgeries yesterday morning at Forthill Sheltered Complex and Broughty Ferry Library, however I managed to find some time to catch up with a few of my Scottish Conservative Party colleagues who were delivering leaflets for the Better Together campaign in Barnhill. 

Thankfully the rain held off and we managed to get round a pretty wide area. The picture shows the group who had just finished deliveries in south Barnhill before heading off for a well deserved cup of tea.

Pavement works in Gray Street start on Monday

A reminder that the kerbing and footway works in Gray Street (Brook Street to King Street) are due to commence on Monday. The businesses and residents received written notification from the council this week.

They were informed that the contractor is Tayside Contracts, assisted by Kilmac Construction. The street will be closed to northbound (King Street to Brook Street) traffic, which will be diverted via King Street/ St Vincent Street and Brook Street. Parking will be suspended on one side of the street for the duration of the works.  Accommodation will be made for disabled parking and servicing of businesses/properties, though delays will be experienced and the council has asked that vehicular traffic movements be kept to a minimum, where possible.  Pedestrian access will be maintained to both sides of the street for the duration of the works.

Arrangements are being made to relocate the bus stop round the corner into King Street for the 6 week period.

It is proposed to start work on the east footway, with the west footway to follow until 8 November when works will stop to allow unrestricted access to the shops and businesses in the lead up to Christmas. Works not completed within this six week period will be constructed in March 2014.

Salmond can no longer avoid providing hard facts on separation

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson MSP has challenged Alex Salmond to provide the facts about separation to key bodies such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland (ICAS), CBI Scotland and the Law Society of Scotland.

With just a year until the referendum vote, the First Minister has yet to provide key answers on pensions, business and legal issues.

Speaking after today’s Scottish Government debate – “Scotland’s Future” – Ruth said:

“I expect to be shouted down by the SNP and flannelled when asking questions the First Minister doesn’t want to answer because that’s politics.

“What is unacceptable, is for independent experts and trade organisations genuinely seeking answers about the consequences of independence to be stonewalled.

“Scotland’s chartered accountants deserve to get a full and considered response on how cross border pension arrangements would work under independence – not just a blind assertion that Europe will just change the rules because Alex Salmond says so.

“The CBI, who called for answers to 170 questions on what impact independence would have on the business community, deserve answers.

“And, the Law of Society of Scotland deserves to know exactly how a Scottish Supreme Court would work in practise or what legal advice exists regarding an independent Scotland’s place in the EU.

“Until now, these questions and those from many other groups and individuals across the country have been disregarded with the kneejerk response that all will be revealed in the SNP’s White Paper.

“The people of Scotland are facing their biggest decision for 300 years and deserve more information on the proposition which is being put to them.

“The SNP has set the bar high for their forthcoming White Paper, they now have to deliver.”

Development Management Committee

There were no planning applications at tonight’s Development Management Committee for locations within the Ferry ward but there were three applications elsewhere in Dundee that I thought would be of interest to Broughty Ferry residents (and others further afield).

The committee agreed to an application for the erection of a memorial in commemoration of those who lost their lives in the Tay Rail Bridge disaster. It takes the form of three granite slabs to be located in a small area of hard landscaped ground close to the Tay Rail Bridge. The granite slabs will contain the names of those who died.

The committee also agreed to a proposal that will see a cinema brought back to the city centre.  The new cinema complex is to be located within part of the Wellgate Shopping Centre and in part of the building which incorporates the library. There will be a reconfiguration to accommodate the cinema and the library requirement. The works will be phased to allow the library to continue to be operational throughout. In addition there will be a remodelling of the entrance at the Murraygate. The façade will be replaced with a glazed entrance feature of modern design

Planning consent was also approved for the change of use of the former Caird Hall Box Office in City Square to form a restaurant. No alterations are proposed to the exterior of the building which has a granite frontage with carved decorative panels and bronze decorative fascia.

Football pitches

There has been concern recently about the condition of football pitches in Broughty Ferry . The public pitches at Gillies Park were closed for maintenance after complaints were received about rock-hard goalmouths with stones sticking through. Pitches at Orchar Park and Claypotts Park were also closed.

I contacted the council's environment department to find out what is happening and in response I have been advised that the pitch at Orchar Park has been re-instated and another pitch was marked off to allow football to continue. The pitches at Gillies Park were closed due to complaints received from Dundee and District Youth Football Association and Barnhill Primary School about its dangerous condition.  It has now been re-instated by using turf to speed the downtime of the pitch. It will be back in use in the next week or so.

Broughty in Bloom

I was pleased to see that the hard work carried out by the Broughty in Bloom group has been recognised with a silver gilt medal in this year’s Beautiful Scotland competition. The competition is judged by horticultural achievement, environmental responsibility and community participation.

 The judges said:  “The group assisted by other community groups continue to work hard for the benefit of the town. There are colourful, well-planted beds in the Windmill Garden; on-going improvements and additions at Barnhill Rock Garden; the King St residents garden continues to delight; an edible garden at the library; and continued improvements at the Wildflower Garden.”

Edzell Street, Strathbeg Place and Dunshelt Road

I have been contacted by residents about recent carriageway works in Edzell Street and Strathbeg Place. They wanted to know why only certain sections were attended to rather than the entire carriageway. Nearby Dunshelt Road is quite bad as well, particularly at its junctions with Edzell Street and Strathbeg Place, and could do with some attention. I contacted the Roads Maintenance Partnership about it and have posted below the response I received:

‘Carriageway patching works such as those recently completed in Edzell Street and Strathbeg Place are carried out to effect repairs to sizeable areas of carriageway where only specific areas require remedial action and where there are no proposals or no available funding to carry out a full resurfacing of that location. There are no plans to carry out patching or resurfacing works to Dunshelt Road at present for budgetary reasons however it will continue to be inspected on a regular basis and any actionable defects noted will be repaired to ensure safety is maintained.’

Community meetings

Last night I attended the monthly meeting of Broughty Ferry Community Council. There were quite a number of people present and the meeting heard from Cllr. Craig Melville, convenor of Dundee City Council’s environment committee and Ken Laing, director of the environment department. Both had been invited along to address the community council and answer questions on the changes to the  city council’s recycling centres.

I updated the meeting on recent measures taken by the city council regarding the speed limit on Dundee Road and the sale of the former Eastern Primary School site. I also reported back on the request for additional toddler swings at Castle Green.

On Monday I attended a meeting of Forthill Tenants Association. John Wolstencroft, from the council’s housing department was present to talk about the consultation on the revised letting policy. The closing date for the consultation has been extended to the end of September to give everyone who wishes to do so the opportunity to make their views known.

I reported back to the meeting about action being taken to bring up to a maintainable standard a few over-grown plots of land and the removal of a couple of Anderson shelters which had been used as sheds but are now in a very poor state of repair.

Esplanade update

I have been advised by the council’s head of environmental management that a way forward has been agreed in terms of cleaning up the section of pavement on the south side of the Esplanade that has been ‘lost’ to the sand. The marram grass which is encroaching on the pavement will also be removed and the kerb channels swept.

Beach Crescent slipway

The City Development Department is proposing to install Manchester bollards at the top of the slipway at the Gray Street end of Beach Crescent.

The intention is to have them in place in the next two to three months and the proposal has been circulated to the members of the Broughty Ferry Community Planning Partnership for comment. The bollards will be removable in case the slipway needs to be used in the future.

There is space at the top of the slipway for three or four cars to park and there have been occasions when vehicles have rolled down the slipway banging into the railings at the bottom. I have observed children here a few times watching the swans, so there could be serious consequences. The bollards will allow vehicles to park safely and prevent this from happening.

Hill Road

I continue to receive a lot of complaints about potholes and trip hazards. The street I previously received the most complaints about was Ellieslea Road but thankfully, for the meantime, this has been attended to. One of the other locations that generates frequent contact with me is the junction of Hill Road and Hill Street. The potholes have been in filled on a number of occasions but unfortunately these deteriorated again relatively soon afterwards. Recently I raised the issue again with the city engineer and asked if a more permanent repair could be carried out. In response I was advised that the road maintenance partnership inspector is proposing to carry out repairs here using the thermal patching equipment (Rhinopatching) where suitable, when the equipment is next available for use in the Broughty Ferry area.