Meetings tonight – and tomorrow
Today’s
Evening Telegraph covers the issue of begging in Perth Road and Nethergate and my discussions with Tayside Police about the issue. As the article points out, tonight’s police community surgery at Blackness Library (5.30pm to 7pm) will be an opportunity for residents to air their views. Tonight’s West End Community Council also takes place immediately afterwards (7pm) at the nearby Logie and St John’s (Cross) Church Hall.Good news on unadopted footways! Following residents’ requests to add Hillside Place to the list, I have been advised by the City Engineer as follows :
“Hillside Place has now been assessed and scored in accordance with the Unadopted Footways Scheme Criteria and has attracted 18 points, ie the same as Hillside Terrace. The list is currently under review so I am unable at this time to advise of these footways final position. I can confirm that the footways of Hillside Tce and Hillside Place would be done at the same time.”He has also confirmed to me that the review of the list to enable priorities for upgrading for 2010/11 to be determined will be complete by the end of February.
A few latest updates!
* Blackness Court Sheltered Housing - I have been campaigning for some time to have the footpaths near to the sheltered housing improved. On Friday, along with two residents, I had a useful site visit with a City Council roads inspector who has promised to progress pavement improvements at the Rosefield Place/Blackness Road junction and at the pedestrian crossing used by the sheltered housing residents to cross Blackness Road to get to the Post Office and other local shops.
Residents have also complained that the yellow lines in Rosefield Place are worn and cars park on the pavement edge making it very difficult for elderly folk – especially those on motorised scooters – to get from their homes to the shops. I was pleased to be advised today by the City Development Department as follows : “The lines in Rosefield Place will therefore be refurbished around April/May time along with other long term outstanding orders.”
Subjects covered include :
• Wheelie Bins• Safe parking/drop off at Primary Schools
• Friendly Bus
• Hillside Terrace – proposed Stopping Up Order
• West End Primary Schools Project
• Unadopted Footways Programme
• Blackness Library Opening Hours
The Community Council meets this tomorrow (Tuesday 9th February) at Logie St John’s (Cross) Church Hall at 7pm.
You can download a copy of the update by going to :
http://tiny.cc/wecc0210.
See : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8PaNCR6H3U
Final “Journey” upload.
Was on the Tay Talk In this morning on Radio Tay AM about the Scottish Budget and cuts in the Fairer Scotland Fund.
During my period as City Council Planning & Transport Convener,
I brought the project to committee for approval in May 2008. This was unanimously approved and members of the then SNP opposition welcomed it.In May 2009, a year after committee approval,
I was assured by the City Engineer that the project had been advertised in the European Journal. The assessment panel had been identified and the assessments of these were being carried out. I was further advised at that time :
I am unconvinced by the reasons advanced for not progressing with the project. It is clear from the recent Tesco proposal for a new “Express” convenience store in Hawkhill that there is still commercial viability for the car park that envisaged retail facilities on the ground floor.
I am meeting the City Council’s Head of Transportation on Monday to discuss the matter and my concerns about the council’s u-turn. I am very disappointed at this turn of events and think it is vital that the Hunter Street parking project is progressed, for the benefit of easing parking difficulties in the West End.
See : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0H3bJHWGl4
Given the ‘Journey’ revival of late, it sort of seemed appropriate to feature!
And … another West End project taking shape is the proposed Riverside Nature Park. The project team are giving a presentation to West End Community Council this coming Tuesday. I have had the following update from the City Development Department on the project :
Further, in addition to support from the local Community, we are trying to establish a ‘Champion’ for the project, i.e. a group of local residents, who may be able to attract more funding to maximise the impact of the VDLF funding.”
See : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1bmgTkcHeU
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott this week challenged the First Minister about police officers who are not specialist firearms officers being issued with Tasers.
The First Minister refused to get involved, claiming it was an operational matter for the force. But when Liberal Democrat MSP Jeremy Purvis questioned the previous First Minister about the same subject, he was given a Ministerial policy answer.
In England, the Home Secretary had to give agreement before the weapons were issued to more officers.
Commenting after First Minister’s Questions, Mr Scott said:
“When Tasers were put on trial in England, within the first year they had been used 661 times. 34 children were zapped with 50,000 volts within a year.
“Before the weapons were issued to more officers in England, it was signed off by Jacqui Smith. But according to the First Minister, in Scotland this is an operational matter and he refused to get drawn in.
“The First Minister talked about specialist training for the officers who will be carrying Tasers. This “specialist training” is just three days.
“Three days training might well be enough for an officer who has already had 8 weeks of intensive firearms training and is already subject to strict regular reviews. But the First Minister seems confident that it’s also sufficient for officers who have no previous training or experience of handling weapons like this.
“Today’s announcement in Strathclyde could be a slippery slope to every officer in Scotland carrying a Taser gun, with only three days training.”

It turns out that Betty of Hot Pot fame is actuallly a vegetarian! More can be read on the excellent Coronation Street Blog at
http://coronationstreetupdates.blogspot.com/!
Tonight, I attended a very interesting and informative meeting of the Harris Academy Parent Council. A detailed overview of the school’s extensive preparations for the Curriculum for Excellence was given. Along with Jim Thewliss, Head Teacher, I spoke about the latest developments on the Harris rebuilding/improvements project. Yesterday, the Director of Education gave me the following update on the project :The accommodation schedule for the new school is being prepared currently in conjunction with the school. Meetings between now and 11th February are planned with school staff to establish a baseline of necessary accommodation. A meeting, chaired by Michael Wood*, will take place week commencing 15th February to finalise the accommodation schedule. This will contribute to the development of the new feasibility study which is likely to be presented to committee in May/June 2010. Our planning still assumes a ‘new build’ cost of £28m.”
The Finance Secretary has also responded to our demand for debt-financing support for Scottish business. Too many businesses we have spoken to simply cannot get access to loans through their bank. A Federation of Small Business report this week shows that our priority on this is right. These soundly-based businesses need government support to get through the recession. This has now been agreed by the Scottish Government and further detailed plans – using European funding – will be announced shortly.

“Just the Job” – a course aimed at local people looking for work but English is their second language started this morning at the
Mitchell Street Centre. It aims to help participants improve their application filling, CVs and interview skills and will run every Tuesday morning until 9th March. Further information is available from Kim Robertson on 435872 or Colin Christie on 436414.Corner of City Road and Scott Street – Home Scotland has arranged a litter pick and tidy up of the area follwing my raising residents’ concerns about the untidy state of the site and the amount of fly-tipping. I have also raised with the City Council concerns about the state of the fencing further up City Road at the allotments. Some of the fencing is loose and springing out over the pavement.
Pentland - bathroom and kitchen improvements – Following my raising questions from tenants in Saggar Street about when their kitchens and bathroom will be upgraded (many still have the originals, from when the estate was built), I have had the following response from the Housing Department :
Retro Dundee – http://retrodundee.blogspot.com – is a super look back at Dundee in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.
My LibDem colleague, Alistair Carmichael MP, has started his blog “Burning My Boats” at http://alistaircarmichael.wordpress.com/ and it is well worth a read.
The Council’s view has always been that assets which are held for the public good are held on the account of the department which operates and maintains them, e.g. Caird Hall, Camperdown Park, Caird Park, Baxter Park, etc. The cost of maintaining these assets is significant and is paid for through operational budgets charged to council tax. The assets are properly recorded in asset registers and included in the council’s Annual Accounts.
If there is a proposal to either lease any of these lands or premises for a long period or sell any part of them, the Council would fully consider the implications and if necessary seek legal approval.”
Several constituents have contacted me to ask why it is that some local people still cannot receive digital radio services. This appears to be because the digital radio signal only broadcasts locally from the Angus transmitter and quite a few West End homes have a poor line of sight to that transmitter, with the BBC accepting that reception is only “fairly” likely, even with an external radio aerial.
Residents have been surprised to find that, having bought a DAB radio, they simply can’t get consistent reception on digital radio. To be frank, government really shouldn’t be considering switching off FM radio until it has ensured that there is good reception of digital in all areas.
My other concern is that many local radio stations fear they are being frozen out of the digital radio switchover debate, with the future of more than 100 of them still uncertain.
Many local radio stations – for example Wave 102 in Dundee – are not available on Digital Audio Broadcasting. I have recently spoken with Adam Findlay, Managing Director of Wave 102, about this and I know residents will not want to see the switching off of FM radio before the future of all their local, popular radio stations is secured in a digital age.
It is beyond me that the Westminster Government is moving forward with proposals to switch off FM radio by around 2015 when over 100 local stations still do not have a clear digital migration path and are likely to be consigned to an uncertain future on the analogue spectrum once digital switchover has occurred.
I have written to Broadcasting Minister Sion Simon MP expressing my concerns about the government’s handling of the digital radio issue. It is most important that all citizens continue to get access to good radio reception and the full choice of radio stations.
Wednesday 3rd February 2010, 1.15-1.45pm : Gordon Penman, fiddle, with Isobel Luke, harpsichord – Wighton Centre, Dundee Central Library, Wellgate, Dundee, DD1 1DB.
Admission free.
Gordon Penman, chair of the Friends of Wighton, will be giving an intriguing performance of old Scottish chamber music on Wednesday at lunchtime.
Gordon will perform a sonata by the 18th century composer William McGibbon sonata, a selection of strathspeys and other tunes from the book published by Montrose musician Archibald Duff, and some compositions of the well-known Fife musician and composer James Oswald.
Accompanying Gordon in period style on the Wighton Centre’s beautiful French-style harpsichord will be Isobel Luke, a former chair of the Friends.
The music in Wednesday’s performance is taken from the rare old books of Scottish music preserved in Dundee City Library in the Wighton Collection.
The Friends of Wighton organises monthly concerts in the Library’s specially built performance and study centre, as well as classes and other outreach events to make the treasures of the collection more accessible to the people of Fife, Angus and Dundee.
Harpsichordist Mark Spalding, who had been booked for Wednesday’s concert, has suffered an injury. However he will be appearing at the Wighton Centre later on in the year.
Saturday 20th February, 10.30 for 11am : Cappuccino Concert featuring Sheena Wellington, one of Scotland’s finest traditional singers with a programme of songs found in, or inspired by, the Wighton Collection. An article on Sheena is in the February edition of the
Scots Magazine.Tickets, price £5 (to include coffee and newspapers), are available from Rainbow Music, 35 Cowgate, Dundee, 01382 698397.
For more info please visit
www.friendsofwighton.com or call 07792 336804.Again, locally, it was revealed that Angus College has had to turn away 75 full time students.
At First Minister’s Questions earlier this week, Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Tavish Scott MSP challenged Alex Salmond to make next week’s Budget respond to this growing challenge.
“Unemployment is still going up in Scotland. The number of young people claiming jobseekers’ allowance has gone up 35% in the last year. We are the only part of Britain where the claimant count is still rising.”
Dundee College is an excellent local educational establishment, providing many top quality courses and providing people with the necessary skills to secure future employment.
Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, added,
Many colleges are turning away four times as many applicants as last year and some colleges have had to reject people for the very first time. In Angus, despite having no additional funding, they increased recruitment by 10% to their maximum capacity. There were still 75 students who were unable to be taken on to their preferred course despite fulfilling the criteria.
Young people’s career plans are being hit twice. With record unemployment they can’t get a job and now they can’t get a college place either. The Scottish Liberal Democrats raised this with the First Minister as part of our Budget negotiations and our figures show why action here matters for Scotland.”
As reported in tonight’s Evening Telegraph, I am very supportive of this proposal and have been in correspondence with Stuart Morris of Balgonie about the matter. We are meeting during February to discuss how the idea can be taken forward. He has had very good feedback from various sources over the proposal.
The Dundee City Archives have given me helpful feedback on the matter:
“As far as I am aware the only plaques in Dundee are the plaque on the bridge put up in 1987 to mark the bridge’s centenary and the ScotRail plaque mounted on the coping stone from one of the piers of the original bridge in 1987 again to mark the centenary of the replacement bridge.Tay Valley Family History Society published a booklet entitled “Victims of the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster” in 2005. This was seen as a means of compensating for the lack of a memorial. It brings together what information the authors were able to discover about the victims including details of where they are buried.”
They have also pointed out that monument to the disaster victims should “morally … have to also include in that monument a tribute to those workers who died by crushing or drowning (as commemorated in the Tay Road Bridge south landfall memorial) putting both bridges up in the first place.” I think that is a very sensible suggestion. As the Tele alludes to this evening, the very sad death of a rail worker on the rail bridge yesterday adds resonance to the memorial proposal.
I am keen to ensure that a lasting, permanent memorial to the victims of the Tay Bridge Disaster and would welcome anyone interested in the matter to contact me.
































