Council budget

Yesterday the council held its budget meeting and as a result thousands of households in Dundee are facing a double whammy of council tax rises. Some families will see their bills rocket by up to 25.5% due to the combination of an across the board increase set by the council of 2.5% on top of a Scottish Government imposed hike on Band E-H properties. In Broughty Ferry nearly half of all properties fall into Band E-H. The table below shows the increases.

 

Band	Increase	% Increase
A	£20.00	2.5
B	£23.33	2.5
C	£26.67	2.5
D	£30.00	2.5
E	£150.43	10.2
F	£267.41	15.3
G	£411.96	20.4
H	£618.45	25.5

 

The Scottish Government received a real terms increase in funding from the UK Government of £500million for the year ahead but chose, once again, not to adequately pass on a fair share to councils. Instead Dundee City Council received £5.5m less in revenue support from the Scottish Government for the next financial year than it did for the current year, so residents are paying more but receiving less in terms of services.

Snowdrop-in, Saturday 25 February

Broughty Ferry Library improvements

When I called in at Broughty Ferry Library this morning for my weekly drop in advice surgery I was delighted to see that further improvements had been carried out. On Thursday new tables and chairs were supplied for the area where the computers are.

 

The library is such an integral part of Broughty Ferry and it’s wonderful that it gets such great support from the local community. The recent improvements were possible thanks to financial support from The Friends of Broughty Ferry Library, Broughty Ferry Traders Association and the Coop. If you haven’t been to the library for a while it is well worth a visit. You will be impressed by all it has to offer.

Advice surgery with Bill Bowman MSP

Bill Bowman, the Scottish Conservative MSP for the North East Scotland Region, will be joining me at my Saturday morning drop in advice surgery at Broughty Ferry Library on 11^th March from 10:00 to 11:00. No appointment is necessary. Please look in if there are any issues or concerns you would like to raise.

 

Bill can be contacted at the Scottish Parliament on 0131 348 5649 or by email Bill.Bowman.MSP@parliament.scot

Gillies Park

I attend the meetings of Barnhill Tenants and Residents Association and one of the things they have been keen on progressing for a while is the provision of better facilities at Gillies Park. It is something I would like to see as well and I regularly push for improvements to our local parks and green open spaces. The group are currently working with the council’s Neighbourhood Services Department to develop a proposal to install a MUGA (Multi-Use Games Area) in the park, on the site of the exising tarmac area.

 

It is early days but this partnership approach has worked elsewhere, including at Fintry Park, Magdalen Green and Baxter Park.  Visit the associations Facebook page for more information.

Possible extension of green circular route

I was pleased to learn from the council’s head of environment that some consideration is being given to possible new core path ‘Green Circular’ links in the Clearwater Park/Ferryfields area.

 

The first is in the Core Path Plan adopted in 2009 as an aspirational route. The route would connect two other sections of core path 22 and would run between Tom Johnston Road and Balmossie Bridge, close to the Dighty. Unfortunately this missing section of core path 22 has a number of challenges and is also very long. The council has received a grant of £5000 from Tactran (the regional transport partnership) to carry out a study and a detailed proposed route line is nearly complete. There is no funding in place for construction and it is anticipated that such a large project will need to be done on a phased basis and attract external funding.

 

Another path being investigating is a short link from Linlathen Lane to Tom Johnston Road. This would be a very useful link from Clearwater Park to Sainsbury's, but no progress has been made yet as it was only recently suggested by a resident.

 

It’s good to know that the council is actively looking for improvements in the path and cycle route network in Broughty Ferry.

 

Food Train

Food Train Dundee is moving to a new office as of Monday 6th February 2017. The new address is: Suite 17, The Circle, Staffa Place, Dundee, DD2 3SX. The existing telephone number should still be used 01382 459202.