Kerrington Crescent

I’m pleased to see that work has started to upgrade the unadopted pavement on the south side of Kerrington Crescent. The north pavement was upgraded and adopted by the council a couple of years ago.

 

When I was first elected as a councillor in Broughty Ferry one of my goals was to try and get as many unadopted pavements as possible upgraded. This was in response to the complaints I had received about them from householders and pedestrians. Back then Broughty Ferry had a significant number of unadopted pavements, including some busy main roads, but since the council introduced its unadopted footways scheme a lot have been attended to. I have always looked for ways to improve the priority ranking of the unadopted pavements in Broughty Ferry and in a lot of cases my efforts have proved successful, the pavement on the north side of Kerrington Crescent being one of them.

Success for Broughty Ferry community groups and vote for Barnhill Rock Garden

On Wednesday Keep Scotland Beautiful held the ‘It’s Your Neighbourhood’ annual seminar and certificates were presented to participating groups. It’s Your Neighbourhood is a campaign with an emphasis on community participation. A series of certificates are available to recognise the work done by local groups to make their environment clean, green and sustainable.

 

Queen Street Community Garden, maintained by Grove Academy pupils, received a Level 5 Outstanding certificate, as did the Friends of the Barnhill Rock Garden. Well done to both on achieving such a high assessment. Several other Dundee community groups were also recognised at the event.

 

Additionally, Barnhill Rock Garden has been nominated for the Fields in Trust UK's best park award. You can vote for it via the Fields in Trust website. Voting is open until Wednesday 9 November 2016 at 5pm.

 

The park with the most votes in each of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will be shortlisted and the winner announced at the Fields in Trust Awards on Wednesday 30th November. Last year, Telford Town Park in Shropshire was named UK's Best Park 2015. Let’s see if we can make it Barnhill Rock Garden this year.

Funding award for library

I have received a summary of the most recent Dundee Partnership Community Regeneration Fund awards; included is a sum of £1,210 to the Friends of Broughty Ferry Library to purchase additional IT equipment for use in the youth wing. This complements approximately £4,000 of work already carried out through funds raised by the group (see earlier post on refurbishment of the teenage section).

 

The staff at the library and the friends group do a wonderful job in making Broughty Ferry Library such a great place to visit and I was really pleased to learn that their application for funding had been successful.

Road report for week commencing 24 October 2016

Seafield Road (Church Street to Davidson Street) - closed for one week for gas main renewal.

Fort Street (King Street to Fisher Street) - closed for 7 days for carriageway resurfacing.

Forthcoming Major Roadworks

Whinny Brae (Monifieth Road to Rowanbank Gardens) - closed for road resurfacing works from Monday 31 October for 5 days.

The council’s full weekly road report can be viewed here.

Take Pride in Your City events in November

Your Bus Matters

Local community plan

Time is running out for you to have your say on the new local community plan for Broughty Ferry. Dundee Partnership is seeking the views of local people about ways in which the quality of life can be improved in the area. The community plan contains the things residents would like to see happen and the actions required to make those things happen.  

 

You can complete an on-line questionnaire, Engage Dundee, on the council’s internet site. It has 15 general themes, each with one straightforward question, and an opportunity to provide comments. It includes things like public transport, traffic and parking, facilities, work and the local economy.

 

The consultation ends on 31 October. If you have a moment to spare please make your views known, so that the final plan reflects the wishes of as many people as possible.

Road report for week commencing 17 October

Seafield Road (Church Street to Davidson Street) – closed for 2 weeks for gas main renewal.

 A92 at Panmurefield roundabout – overnight (8.00pm – 6.00am) eastbound alternate closures on Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 October for surfacing works.

Brown Street  – closed at its junction with Brook Street from Tuesday 18 October for one week for building maintenance works.

Forthcoming Closures

Whinnybrae, Broughty Ferry (Monifieth Road to Rowanbank Gardens) – closed for road resurfacing works from Monday 31 October for 5 days.

The council’s full weekly road report can be viewed here.

Balmossie Fire Station

Police Scotland is currently carrying out a review of its estate and I was pleased to learn, that while closures are being considered elsewhere, the expectation is that there will continue to be a police station in Brook Street, although as now seems likely it will be relocated to the other side of the road to its former location.

 

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service recently consulted on its new strategic plan for 2016/19. I was concerned that the action plans which support the strategic plan might include a review of the Scottish Fire and Rescue estate and so I spoke to Liam Kerr MSP about it. Liam very kindly wrote to the chief officer seeking clarification with regard to future plans for our local fire station at Balmossie.

 

In his response to Liam, the chief officer wrote; “we remain committed to maintaining our frontline service and at present have no plans to reduce the number of stations in the north east or other parts of Scotland." Liam and I will keep a watching brief on this issue.

Getting things done-update

I was pleased to see that work is being carried out on the granolithic pavement in Westfield Road. The very poor section on the east pavement near to Brook Street is being resurfaced. I have pushed for this stretch of pavement to be attended to for a while as it was in a very poor state. I’m grateful to the roads maintenance partnership for programming the works so quickly after it agreed to carry out this localised repair.

Oor Lifesaver comes home

I joined the crowds on the pilot pier on Friday afternoon to watch Oor Lifesaver being brought home by the lifeboat and crew of ‘The Elizabeth of Glamis’. There was a big cheer when ‘Wullie’ was lifted onto the pier. Youngsters from the Brownies at the nearby St James’ Parish Church held up signs which said “Welcome Home Oor Lifesaver”.

 

The crowdfunding campaign raised £16,000, which was enough to buy the statue at the charity auction with the surplus split equally between the Archie Foundation and the RNLI. The local community got right behind the fundraising effort with many businesses and individuals contributing, including the pupils and staff at Grove Academy who donated more that £1000.

 

While he is back sitting in his now familiar spot on the pier he will be located in an  RNLI fundraising pop-up shop on Gray Street (opposite Eduardo Alessandros) from tomorrow.