I attended two council committees tonight; the Development Management Committee and the Policy and Resources Committee (Police, Fire and Community Safety).
There was only one planning application included in the agenda for the Development Management Committee and that was for permission to change the use of a shop premises on Dundee Road from retail to beauty salon. Residents of West Ferry will remember this shop when it operated as a newsagents.
The Policy and Resources Committee considered reports by Scottish Fire and Rescue and Police Scotland.
One of the reports provided information on the proposals for police public counters within Dundee which includes the removal of the provision at Longhaugh and Maryfield police stations and the reduction of opening hours at Lochee and Downfield police stations. I voted for a motion that would have seen Dundee City Council express its opposition to the proposed changes as I believe that a public counter provides an important link with the police in our communities. We haven't had a public counter facility at Broughty Ferry Police Station for some time and it is something that constituents quite often ask me about. The motion was unsuccessful as the SNP majority on the council didn't support it.
The Dundee local area policing report showed that the Ferry ward had by far the lowest number of crimes, however it also showed that the Ferry had the lowest rate of detected crimes in the reporting period. The committee was advised that this was due in part to there being fewer opportunities for detection (detecting a crime can often lead to the detection of further crimes) and that forensics can sometimes take a while to catch up with the reporting period. Acquisitive crime had impacted on the figures and the police said they are working hard to improve the position.
