New food waste collection service

The next phase of the new food waste collection service is to start on 27 June and will include parts of West Ferry, Dawson, Clearwater Park and other areas in the east of the city.

 

There are a number of drop-in sessions scheduled across these areas where staff from the waste section of the council will be happy to answer any queries.

 

Ahead of the service launch a detailed service information leaflet will be delivered to all households, along with their new food waste caddy.

 

 

 

 

Duke of Edinburgh Diamond Challenge

Alongside a dozen of my councillor colleagues, I'll be taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Diamond Challenge. On June 4th, we will be trekking across the Tay Road Bridge.

 

The challenge will help to raise the profile of the Duke of Edinburgh Award here in Dundee, as well as providing an opportunity to raise funds for its delivery. All monies raised will be spent in the city, helping our young people to work towards and achieve their Duke of Edinburgh Award.

 

 Our fundraising efforts will help to ensure that the Duke of Edinburgh Award remains affordable but also opens up opportunities for those that would ordinarily be unable to take part due to the costs.

 

Should anyone wish to sponsor me my Just Giving page can be found on the link below.

 https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Dereks-Diamond-Challenge

Royal Arch recreated

I went down to Slessor Gardens yesterday to have a look at the huge version of Dundee’s Royal Arch that was created out of cardboard boxes and tape. The concept of ‘people’s towers’ built from cardboard came from French visual artist Olivier Grossetete who has completed them all over the world. It was great to see so many families taking part, helping to put the building blocks together. It also showed what a great space Slessor Gardens will be for hosting events.

Sadly what goes up must eventually come down and the temporary structure was due to be toppled today and the cardboard trampled by those who helped build it. This cardboard version was erected just a short distance away from where the stone version once stood. Building work on the original Royal Arch was completed in 1850. It was demolished in 1964 to make way for the Tay Road Bridge approach road.

Take Pride in Your City- June events



Broughty boundary outcome

I‘m really disappointed that the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland has recommended that the electoral boundary for the Ferry ward should be at Victoria Road, as proposed by the SNP administration on Dundee City Council. The Boundary Commission received nearly 1000 letters of objection from local residents , an unprecedented number, and some well thought out arguments were made regarding community, social and historic ties.

When the commission started to look at ward designs for Dundee it proposed a boundary for The Ferry ward along Fairfield Road, which was bad enough, but the SNP administration decided to support an alternative option with a boundary down Victoria Road. I opposed it then but none of the other 28 councillors supported me.

In its final report the commission states: ‘We noted that Dundee City Council preferred option B of LGBCS paper 2267 and agreed to adopt the suggestion as our proposals for public consultation’

I responded to the public consultation calling for no change to the Ferry ward boundaries, no SNP councillor, MP or MSP did during the allotted consultation period. The Scottish Conservative Party noted the concern of local residents and put forward an alterative proposal, should change to boundaries be needed, to create two three member wards in Broughty Ferry: Broughty Ferry West and Broughty Ferry East but this proposal was also rejected by the commission.

Later in the commission report it states:  ‘We noted the lack of opposition from elsewhere in the city and the support of the council for our proposals which incorporated the council’s suggested improvements to our original proposals.’

SNP politicians in Dundee now seem outraged by the final recommendation of the Boundary Commission- a recommendation that only came about because the SNP suggested it. Politics is a strange beast indeed.  

‘Mansions and Mariners’

Last night I attended a talk at Broughty Ferry Library entitled ‘Mansions and Mariners’ by Callum Webster, author of "What's in a Name, the story of Broughty Ferry Street Names." It was about the families who shaped Broughty Ferry's history from the fishing community to the wealthy industrialists who made Broughty Ferry their home.

 

Callum told some wonderful stories both humorous and tragic about a number of the fishing families. Interestingly a lot of the jute merchants who built mansions in the area had their roots in the fishing community.

 

The event was hosted by The Friends of Broughty Ferry Library who are doing a great job in supporting the library and helping to raise funds.

 

The provision of an extension at Broughty Ferry Library came a step closer on Monday of this week when the council’s City Development Committee agreed on the process for procuring design and cost planning that will allow Leisure and Culture Dundee to apply for external funding from a variety of sources. The council has already agreed to fund part of the project with £346,000.

Getting things done

I advised the Neighbourhood Services Department about some damage in Dawson Park to the ramp at the bowling green/demonstration garden and undermining of the surface at a water toby cover in the same location. An order has been issued for their repair and an early completion date is being chased up.

 

I’m very proud of the parks we have in Broughty Ferry and I like to see them properly maintained and being well used.

Flood protection scheme- public consultation

I previously posted about the council’s flood protection scheme for Broughty Ferry and its intention to bring forward a proposal to construct improved defences between Douglas Terrace and Broughty Castle.

A public exhibition is to be held at Broughty Castle Bowling Club, 439 King Street, on 1 June between 10am and 8pm where the initial designs for the project will be displayed. Engineers from the design team will be available to answer any questions you might have about the scheme. All comments and suggestions will be collated and the designs updated as appropriate before progressing a finalised scheme. Forms will be available for people to record their comments. The engineers will also be present at the meeting of Broughty Ferry Community Council on 7 June.

Temporary traffic order

I have been advised that Scottish Water is to carry out manhole repair works in Camphill Road which will necessitate the closure of the road on Tuesday 31 May for one day between Dick Street and Panmure Street.

 

Pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained.

 

Alternative routes for vehicles are available via Panmure Street, Queen Street and Camphill Road.

Unadopted pavement works update

Broughty Ferry did well again in this year’s priority ranking exercise for the council’s unadopted footways programme. A number of local pavements are to be brought up to standard and adopted by the council for future maintenance purposes. These are:

 

 Hill Road, Strathmore Street (from the bus stop to Rosedale Crescent and minor repairs Rosedale Crescent to Ellie Avenue), the south side of Collingwood Street, Holly Road, Lindsay Street, Ardmore Avenue, the south footway of Kerrington Crescent, and left over from the last financial year, Stewart Street.

 

I understand work is due to commence on Stewart Street this week. The others will be attended to on a phased basis starting in the summer.

 

It is good to see these pavements at last being attended to. Over the years I have highlighted the need for action and for some of them I have suggested ways to improve their priority. I’m particularly pleased to see the section of Strathmore Street being brought up to standard. Many residents have asked me about it and it will make the walk to the bus stop much better. There are more still to do though and I will push for these to be carried out as soon as possible.

 

After reviewing the programme of works for this year I contacted the Roads Maintenance Partnership to ask if Maule Street could be included. It connects Kerrington Crescent with Navarre Street and is a very short section of pavement and it seemed to me that it could be attended to at the same time as Kerrington Crescent. I was advised that due to the budget allocation being fully committed for the current financial year it wouldn’t be possible to bring it forward in the programme. However it is the first reserve scheme and will be added to this year's programme should savings be achieved during the other schemes. A ‘shovel ready’ works package is to be prepared to allow for its inclusion should funding become available.

 

 

 

Celebrate Age Network Spring event

Scottish Conservatives become the second largest party

It was an astonishing night on Thursday which saw the Scottish Conservatives becoming the second largest party at Holyrood winning a 22% share of the vote and more than doubling its number of MSPs to 31. The Conservatives also pushed Labour into third place in many more seats.

 

The result in the north east region, of which Dundee is a part, returned 5 Conservative MSPs, one from a constituency and 4 from the regional list.

 

In Dundee it was equally amazing as Bill Bowman, the candidate in Dundee East, nearly doubled the Scottish Conservative vote from the last election, finishing only 642 votes behind the Labour candidate. In the Dundee East regional vote the Scottish Conservatives were only 14 votes behind Labour!

 

The Scottish Conservative victories denied the nationalists another majority. Ruth Davidson and her team will provide a strong opposition and strengthen Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom.

 

Many thanks to all those who voted and to all those who helped with the campaign in Dundee East.

An interesting week

Last week was a busy and varied week of meetings, events, appointments and home visits. On Monday it was the usual round of council committees. The City Council meeting considered an emergency item on the fifth review of electoral arrangements. I was pleased to see the council change its mind about ward boundary proposals following an unprecedented level of responses from local residents. Last May when the council put forward an option for boundaries that would have resulted in West Ferry being taken out of The Ferry ward I was the only councillor to oppose it. The turnaround by the SNP administration, despite being at such a late stage of the electoral review process, is very welcome.

 

The motion before the council  was that its should advise the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland that it does not wish any changes to be made to the current number of elected members on Dundee City Council or the current ward boundaries. I asked for a line to be added to the motion, as I felt the Commission needed to know that Dundee City Council, in the event of an increase in councillor numbers still going ahead, wouldn’t want its previously submitted boundary proposal in respect of The Ferry ward to be taken forward. My amendment was defeated by 16 votes to 13.

 

Hopefully the Commission will recommend the status quo to Scottish Government Ministers.

 

On Tuesday and Thursday I was delighted to be part of the judging panel for the council’s annual Outstanding Service and Commitment Awards (OSCAs). A record sixty nominations were received in total and following an initial judging stage three finalists were selected for each category for the panel to consider. The categories were:  innovation and improvement, customer focus, outstanding team, environment and sustainability, achieving fairness and reducing inequalities, improving service through partnership working. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in June.

 

Also on Tuesday I attended a meeting of Broughty Ferry Development Trust where we received a very interesting presentation on the work that has been carried out at Reres Park and further actions to improve the park to be carried out during the months ahead.