Hillside Road

Temporary Traffic Order – Hillside Road

From Dundee City Council :
 
Dundee City Council proposes to make an Order under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating house building extension works.  The Order is expected to be in force for 3 weeks from 28th November 2016.  Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months.
 
The effect of the Order is to prohibit temporarily all vehicular traffic Hillside Road from its junction with Hillside Terrace to a point 150m or thereby in a northerly direction.
 
The road closures will be intermittent and should only last several hours on each occasion.
 
An alternative route will be available via Hillside Terrace, Hillside Drive and reverse.
 
For further information, please contact the Network Management Team, City Development Department, Dundee House or call 433168.

Hillside area – good news on pavements!

Having campaigned for a long time to see the unadopted and poor-conditioned pavements brought up to a good standard, I am delighted that the area of Hillside Road, Hillside Terrace, Hillside Place and Hillside Drive is now having its pavements upgraded and adopted by Dundee City Council.   
 
Back in 2007, I proposed – and the City Council agreed – to increase annual capital funding on the unadopted footways programme by two and a half fold to £500 000.   This increased funding is having a real and positive impact in getting unadopted pavements upgraded and improved across the West End and in other parts of the city.
 
Here’s a photo of the footways improvement work commencing in Hillside Road in the past few days:

Jubilee celebrations in the West End!

The Jubilee is being celebrated in style in the West End!   Today, I had the honour of cutting the ribbon to officially open the superb Jubilee street party organised by the folk in Hillside Terrace, Road, Place and Drive.    It seemed that everyone from the four streets was there – all generations – and the committee put in huge effort to organise a wonderful community event – some pictures below:
Later this afternoon, I also had the privilege of joining the residents of Glamis Terrace and the surrounding area at their Jubilee Garden Party – another really enjoyable community event – a couple more photos:
Before the crowds arrived!
Glamis Terrace Jubilee Party in full swing!
With more West End Jubilee events on Tuesday and next weekend planned, the West End is enjoying celebrating the Diamond Jubilee and showing the great community spirit across our area.

Another mobile phone mast – Ninewells Avenue

At the City Council’s Development Management Committee tonight, I moved refusal of yet another mobile phone mast planning application in the West End – this time at Ninewells Avenue and close to Glamis Gardens (formerly Wimberley Court) and the Hillside area.

I made the point that there is too little co-operation in mast sharing between mobile phone companies.   This application was by O2 and Vodafone, but there are already three Orange/T-Mobile masts off Riverside Drive and another on the water tower in Yarrow Terrace.

My motion to refuse read :

1. The proposed development is contrary to Policy 1 – “Vibrant and Sustainable Communities” of the Dundee Local Plan Review 2005 as the development is likely to impact adversely on the environmental quality enjoyed by local residents by reason of design and layout. There are no material considerations of sufficient strength to justify the granting of planning permission contrary to the policy.

2. The proposed development is contrary to Policy 78 – “Location of Telecommunications Equipment” of the Dundee Local Plan Review 2005 as there is a failure to demonstrate that there are no other viable options in respect of alternative locations. There are no material considerations of sufficient strength to justify the granting of planning permission contrary to the policy. 

3. The proposed development is contrary to Policy 1 of Dundee City Council’s adopted Non-Statutory “Planning Policies in Relation to Telecommunications Masts and Other Apparatus” as the applicant has failed to investigate all alternative sites in order to minimise the visual impact of the proposal.

4. The proposed development is contrary to Policy 2 “Residential Areas” of Dundee City Council’s adopted Non-Statutory “Planning Policies in Relation to Telecommunications Masts and Other Apparatus” as there is a general presumption against the siting of free standing masts in residential areas unless the mast is sensitively designed and sufficient justification is provided.

Unfortunately, I lost the vote 15-11, so yet another mobile phone mast will be erected in the area.

Re-programming of Hillside Road Surfacing Works

Given the recent thaw and the resultant release of some resources from winter maintenance work back to road repair and resurfacing works, the City Council has tonight advised me that :

” … we plan to re-commence the carriageway surfacing programme on Monday 10th January 2011, starting with the previously postponed works at Hillside Road.

The road will not be closed.  However access will be maintained although restricted and lengthy delays should be expected during excavation and surfacing operations. Works are programmed to take 5 days.

Courtesy signs will be erected asap and residents notified.”

Hillside Road resurfacing

In past months, I have, on behalf of residents, raised the need for improvments to the Hillside Road road surface.    I am pleased to note that the City Engineer’s Department is now undertaking works here and has written to householders as follows :

 

“No 32 Hillside Road to and including the junction with Hillside Terrace : Carriageway Resurfacing Works
 

I wish to notify you that work is programmed to commence at the above location on Monday 29 November 2010 and will last approximately 5 days.   The contractor for the works is Tayside Contracts.
 

In the interest of public safety, a road closure will be implemented and through traffic will be diverted via Hillside Terrace/Hillside Drive and reverse.
 

No on-street parking will be allowed on the section of carriageway being worked on. Access to properties with driveways will be maintained, though delays will be experienced, especially during surfacing operations. Therefore, we would, however ask that vehicular traffic movements be kept to a minimum, where possible.
 

Please note that pedestrian thoroughfare will be maintained throughout the works.
 

Please accept my apologies for any disruption these works may cause. I am sure that you will understand that major road maintenance work is unavoidable and necessitates a degree of inconvenience to road users.
 

If you have any queries regarding this matter, please contact the Roads Maintenance Partnership, by telephoning 01382 433558.”

Hillside Road area – road repairs

I am pleased to advise that, following my raising residents’ concerns about the road condition in the Hillside Road area, particularly near the junction with Glamis Drive, the City Engineer advised me:
“I can confirm that an order has been raised to patch the section of Hillside Road from Glamis Drive up to Hillside Terrace. This work has been programmed for mid to late August weather permitting.”
I have also raised the need for full road resurfacing in the area – the road is really in need of this – and was further advised:
“Resurfacing of Hillside Road is not included in the 2009/2010 programme however the patching works scheduled for mid to late August involve a substantial area of Hillside Road from Glamis Drive as far as house number 8 across the full width of the carriageway and will extend to a depth of 100mm. It does not involve just pothole filling.
“The remainder of Hillside Road will be included in the next annual review where carriageways are inspected/ranked and considered for possible inclusion in the following year’s programme of improvement works.”
I have asked the City Engineer to advise me of the outcome of the annual review process in due course.

Hillside Road/Glamis Drive junction

In recent months, I have had a number of complaints from residents about the condition of the road at the junction of Hillside Road and Glamis Road.

As this junction is the only entrance to Hillside Road, Hillside Drive, Hillside Place and Hillside Terrace it gets a considerable amount of traffic, and I have therefore raised this concern with the City Council.

The City Engineer has now responded in the following terms :
“The Roads Maintenance Team is aware that the carriageway surface in Hillside Road and particularly the junction, is less than ideal.

“It has been assessed for possible inclusion in surfacing programmes along with others throughout the city. Unfortunately due to financial constraints and when considered against other streets it has not been possible to include Hillside Road to date.

“An annual review will be carried out again within the next few months and Hillside Road will again be considered for inclusion in a surfacing programme.

“In the meantime the area supervisor will continue to inspect the carriageway and make safe as required.

“Please note that I have been advised that unfortunately rapid rhino repairs to the junction would not work because the carriageway construction below the surface is a dry bound mix.

“Extensive standard patching could not be justified because of cost – it would be more cost effective to use surface treatment such as ralumac/nimactocote or possibly in situ retread for the whole street, however this street’s priority would need to be considered for such treatment against other similar streets throughout the city.”

I will be keeping a close eye on the situation and will discuss the matter further with the City Engineer when the Annual Review of roads maintenance projects is carried out later this year.

Smell problem hopefully resolved

I have today received assurances from the City Council’s Head of Waste Management that concerns raised by many residents of the West End about a bad smell apparently coming from the Riverside Civic Amenity site over the past few days should hopefully soon be resolved.

Over the past few days I have had lots of complaints from people in the River Crescent, Newhall Gardens and Riverside Place areas about a really bad smell, apparently coming from the Riverside Civic Amenity site. Indeed, when I attended the River Crescent Residents’ Association AGM on yesterday at the Botanic Garden, many residents at the well-attended meeting were complaining about the smell – so bad that they couldn’t sit out in their gardens and had to shut windows.

I immediately contacted both Environmental Health and Waste Management and the City Council’s Head of Waste Management, having obtained feedback from staff at Riverside Civic Amenity site, called me this afternoon to say that the source of the problem appears to have been traced.

Over the period Thursday to Saturday a windrow (row of cut hay) was moved and this disturbed old compost. The work had been planned for this period as the wind direction was likely to ensure any smell would be away from the residential housing to the north, but clearly it did cause a problem in the area over the past few days.

I hope given what I have been advised by the City Council that the matter is now resolved and there will be no further smell nuisance, but I will be keeping a close eye on the situation. I should add that there were a number of other complaints from residents in other parts of the West End – for example Hillside Road and Menzieshill Road – but it looks likely that these emanated from fields to the west of the City.

Lastly, a burst large waste waster system cover near the junction of Riverside Drive and Riverside Avenue which had resulted in a mess round the cover had also been reported to me by residents. Having spoken with Scottish Water today about this, I have been assured that the cover will be replaced and the debris tidied as a matter of urgency.

Glamis Drive

The City Council has informed me that Glamis Drive will be closed to traffic between the junction with Hillside Road and the junction with Hazel Drive on Monday (18th February).
This is due to BT duct repair works and will affect the road for one day only. Pedestrian thoroughfare is unaffected.
Anyone requiring further information can contact the City Council on Dundee 433168.