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.”
* Council housing allocations policy - Earlier today, I attended a briefing for councillors on council housing allocations policy. I raised questions about the need for a common housing register and co-ordination between housing association and council allocation policies to maximise allocations of housing for people in Dundee on housing waiting lists.
* Hunter Street Parking Project - I met the Head of Transportation today about my concerns regarding this project being delayed. I received an assurance that the project will be revisited in 2012 and, if the business case holds, the project will go ahead, as promised. I am disappointed at the delay, especially given that there was interest from around 8 commercial organisations to the advertisement in the European Journal. The multi-storey car park – immediately adjacent to the University of Dundee campus, would greatly assist parking problems in the area.
I also had the opportunity to discuss community transport with the Head of Transportation. We discussed the future of the Friendly Bus sheltered housing shopping service that I am anxious to see secured for the long term.
* Tay Rail Bridge Disaster 1879 – memorial - I had an excellent meeting with Stuart Morris, son of the Laird of Balgonie, regarding his suggestion of a lasting memorial to the victims of the 1879 rail disaster. We have agreed a route forward and will meet again with a group of supporters of such a memorial in March.
* Surgeries - Two busy surgeries late this afternoon at Mitchell Street Centre and Harris Academy.
* City Council Meeting - At tonight’s City Council committees I welcomed an energy efficiency scheme and made some suggestions about ensuring publicity of these (apparently well-received by all sides) and also commented on proposed waiting restrictions in the area around Harris Academy – these will now be subject to public consultation.
Categorized in Blackness Court, Blackness Road, Dundee City Council, Hunter Street, Rosefield Place, Surgeries and Tay Rail Bridge
The Dundee West Liberal Democrat campaign continued in earnest today – here’s parliamentary candidate John Barnett together with son Rory campaigning in St Mary’s this afternoon! The “shame” on the LibDem newspaper refers to Labour’s shame over the illegal war in Iraq.
Categorized in John Barnett and Liberal Democrats
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Tay Talk In
Was on the Tay Talk In this morning on Radio Tay AM about the Scottish Budget and cuts in the Fairer Scotland Fund.
See : http://tinyurl.com/taytalkin
Categorized in Radio Tay and Tay Talk-In
As reported in today’s Courier, I have raised my concerns that Dundee City Council appears to be backtracking on promises to construct a multi-storey car park in the city’s Hunter Street/Hawkhill that would have provided much needed parking adjacent to the University of Dundee campus and have eased the parking difficulties for residents across the West End. Providing a multi-storey car park for over 400 vehicles right next to the University of Dundee campus would greatly improve the difficult parking situation.
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 :
“A detailed project programme is about to be prepared but the design, procurement and construction will likely be about 2 and a half years so the car park/retail unit can be expected to be complete around December 2011/January 2012, all going well.”
Last week, City Council City Development Director Mike Galloway advised me :
“In light of the downturn in the property development market and the need to evaluate the operational success of the new multi storey car park to be built at East Marketgait, we will not now progress Hunter Street until the medium term ie we will revisit the proposal after 2012.”
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.
Categorized in Hawkhill, Hunter Street and parking
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John Barnett’s LibDem team in Dundee West has been campaigning today in Strathmartine Ward and getting a great response on the doorsteps.
Here’s a rather wet Fraser in Downfield this morning – see above!
Categorized in John Barnett and Liberal Democrats
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We had an excellent and productive meeting of the Dundee West Transition Town group at lunchtime today and are planning a public launch – full details to follow! I have agreed to speak about home insulation and energy efficiency measures at the launch meeting.
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 :
“The Nature Park project is programmed to achieve full VDLF spend by March 2011. Consultation with Special Interest Groups and the Community over the last six months has helped inform the design of the project, including the network of paths and biodiversity development. This has also enabled us to develop preliminary costings. We are currently working to finalise the design by the end of this month and the meeting with the West End Community Council next week is an important part of this. We are also considering future maintenance and management arrangements. As explained previously, we are working with SEPA to address technical issues to enable public access to the site.
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.”
Categorized in Dundee West Transition Town Group and Riverside Nature Park
Tavish Scott MSP
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.”
Categorized in Uncategorized
This evening, city councillors were given a guided tour of the revitalised and beautifully restored McManus Art Gallery & Museum. I have no doubt that all who attended were thoroughly impressed by the stunning and sympathetic refurbishment.
McManus reopens to the public on Sunday 28th February at 12.30pm.
Categorized in McManus Galleries and Museum
Further to my earlier items about the proposed footpath improvements in Elliot Road, I was pleased today to be advised that work has now started (slightly later than originally proposed).
Categorized in Elliot Road
Tayside Police is holding a Community Surgery for the West End in Blackness Library next Tuesday – see http://tinyurl.com/westendpolice to view more or see above.
Categorized in Tayside Police
As many of you know, I am a great fan of Coronation Street, and today marks the 90th birthday of Coro legend Betty Williams (although Betty Driver, the actress who has played Betty for 40 years isn’t 90 in real-life until May!)
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/!
Categorized in Coronation Street
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 :
“There will be a site meeting this week with a representative from Historic Scotland to discuss possible options re the listed building issue.
There has been no formal meeting with Scottish Futures Trust since the original meeting, but an SFT adviser has been identified for each council and informal discussions have begun.
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.”
* Michael Wood is the City Council’s Head of Secondary Education. The site meeting with Historic Scotland referred to above took place earlier today.
Categorized in Education and Harris Academy
Scottish Budget 2010 – from Tavish Scott MSP
At the end of the Scottish Budget process for 2010 it is worth remarking on some points.
Today the Scottish Liberal Democrats have achieved changes to Scottish Government programmes that reflect our priorities.
The changes are the ones that we started this whole process campaigning on. We stuck to the issues. We have developed thoroughly researched proposals that help to build a fairer society and a sustainable economy.
There have been substantial changes to the Scottish Budget as a result of the work of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
Our research demonstrated that, in these tough times, far too big a share of the Scottish Budget is currently spent on the highest paid staff. The Scottish Government has now agreed to a new pay policy in March that brings a culture of restraint to the highest paid.
We produced research that demonstrated how record numbers of people are being turned away from Scotland’s colleges. With unemployment at record levels, we have shown that young people are being hit twice. They can’t get a job and now they can’t get a college place. The Scottish Government has agreed to fund more college places. Overall, more than 7,500 students will benefit. That will mean thousands of lives and careers transformed thanks to our work.
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.
The Scottish Government has also agreed to our proposal for a post office diversification fund. This will offer grants to post offices in communities who cannot get the finance they need to expand and diversify their businesses. We hope that communities across Scotland will take up the potential of this lifeline and will see their local post office give more services and become a growing business.
Taken together, these four measures mean that Liberal Democrats do not have reason to block the Budget. We have demonstrated that we can win practical support for young people and for our economy when the Scottish Parliament backs us.
There are still substantial concerns. There is still more work to take place on cutting the pay bill of those at the top in the public sector, movement on bonuses, reducing the quangos that have been created by the SNP and supporting the economy. We will continue to campaign on these but will do so from a much stronger position given our budget achievements.
Categorized in Scottish Parliament and Tavish Scott MSP
Last month, a report went to the City Council’s Leisure and Communities Committee proposing changes to the opening hours of Dundee libraries. The effect on Blackness Library is given below (to take effect from 5th April 2010):
I have written to the Council’s Head of Libraries asking for details of library usage between 5pm and 7pm on Mondays to Wednesdays. Clearly, dropping two of the three late night opening times is a concern, although the slightly earlier opening time will be welcomed. I’d appreciate any feedback from residents on this matter – library@frasermacpherson.org.uk. Many thanks.
Categorized in Blackness Library
A few updates :
“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 :
“This address is part of the City Road 1st-4th Developments which are programmed for Heating replacement and new Kitchens and Bathrooms in 2010/11 Financial year.
We will be in touch with tenants in due course with more details.”
Categorized in City Road, Mitchell Street and Pentland
Apart from a busy day with the ‘day job’, I held two surgeries late this afternoon at the Mitchell Street Centre and Harris Academy. I was interviewed on Wave 102’s “Dundee Tonight” at 6pm about waiting list concerns at Dundee College and other further education colleges across Scotland.
This evening, I spoke with the Blackness Primary School Parent Council about parking and road safety concerns outside the school and thereafter I attended the River Crescent Residents’ Association, where we discussed a number of local issues.
Both the Evening Telegraph and Wave 102 today featured my concerns about the future of local radio as the Westminster Government pushes forward the radio digital switchover.
Categorized in Blackness Primary School, Digital Radio, Dundee College, Harris Academy, Mitchell Street, River Crescent and Wave 102
Given the recent comments made about the running of Common Good Funds across Scotland, I asked the City Council’s Director of Finance for her feedback on the issues raised. With her permission, please see her comments below :
“I have investigated this a bit further and the Council’s position is that the Common Good Fund does not hold any heritable or moveable assets which is completely different from “One council (Dundee City) simply admitted it did not know and kept no record” as contained in the survey. I am not aware where the authors got this information from.
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.”
Categorized in Dundee City Council
With the recent introduction of the Westminster Government’s Digital Economy Bill in parliament, I have concerns at the government’s handling of the future of radio, particularly that, when radio follows television in moving to digital-only transmission (DAB) by around 2015, many people may lose out in receiving radio reception and many local stations may not be available on digital.
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.
Categorized in Digital Radio
With thanks to Sheena Wellington, here’s the latest update from Friends of Wighton :
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.
Categorized in Friends of Wighton
As reported in today’s Courier, following the Scottish Liberal Democrats publishing figures on Thursday showing that many colleges are turning away four times as many applicants as last year and long waiting lists at many colleges, through a Freedom of Information Request made by the Liberal Democrats, it had been revealed that Dundee College has a waiting list of 765. It also revealed that there were over 11 000 applications for less than 4 500 places at the college in its 2009/10 intake.
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.
Commenting after First Minister’s Questions, Tavish said,
“There has been a dramatic increase this year in the number of people turned away from Scotland’s colleges because there aren’t enough places. 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. 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.
“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.
It is concerning that nearly 800 people are on the waiting list and it reinforces the point made by Tavish at First Minister’s Questions earlier this week that the SNP government has to act in this year’s budget to improve levels of funding to allow colleges to better meet the demand for college places.
There’s nearly 300 people on the waiting list for Dundee College’s Hospitality, Tourism, Hair and Beauty courses alone, with nearly as many on the waiting list for admission to courses on Care and Social Studies.
Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, added,
“There has been a dramatic increase this year in the number of people turned away from Scotland’s colleges because there aren’t enough places.
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.”
Categorized in Dundee College
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Stuart Morris, son of the Laird of Balgonie, recently proposed a proper and permanent memorial to the 75 people (including many Dundonians) who died in the 1879 Tay Rail Bridge Disaster (see the report in the Courier over the festive period at http://tinyurl.com/balgonie).
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.
It seems only right that there is a permanent memorial to the people who died in the disaster (see a list of the Dundee folk at http://www.brand-dd.com/taybrig.html and also there’s also useful background to the disaster available). I have been contacted by a number of West End constituents and others who are supportive of 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.
Categorized in Tay Rail Bridge
