Many thanks to the residents who recently highlighted to us that a drainage cover in Perth Road opposite Sainsbury’s had become loose from its fixing, creating a trip-hazard – see photo.
We reported this to the City Council’s Roads Maintenance Partnership to ensure this was repaired, which was done earlier this week.
Residents recently contacted us about concerns around pedestrian safety crossing the slip road from Hawkhill to Perth Road near Sinderins, to the immediate west of the shops on the north side of Perth Road.
As one resident advised us :
“Many vehicles turn at a reasonable rate, preparing to slow up. Several, however, come around the bend at speed.
Recently my husband had stepped off the pavement when a car sped round the bend with the driver looking right towards oncoming traffic, completely unaware of the pedestrian on his left hand side. This is not the first time this has happened.
I can walk quite quickly, but many folk can’t. For drivers not used to the setup there, there is no warning sign about pedestrians crossing.”
We have raised this with the council’s road safety team leader requesting warning signage/road markings to make clear to drivers that pedestrians cross at this location.
Residents will recall our previous posts about proposed environmental improvements along the Perth Road district shopping centre.
We are pleased to advise that the tender for this work was approved at last night’s City Council Fair Work, Economic Growth and Infrastructure Committee.
We had the following update from the project manager on the final proposals :
“The designs were all completed as per previously agreed with community input and tender issued, since then we’ve been successful in obtaining funds from the United Kingdom Shared Prosperity Fund which has enabled us to deliver on the full package of works.
In summary the works comprise:
Miller’s Wynd Park: New planting with a new hedge to screen the car park (with the gap for the community fridge team access) / a new footpath from Perth Road to the Community Fridge / a tidy up of the surfacing around the trees and over by the vehicle entrance / A new screen around the bins / new seating / new covered cycle parking.
During our surveys we also identified that the cabling for the Christmas lights were in poor condition so have added new trunking etc onto the contract to deal with that.
Pennycook Lane: A new planter and two new seats.
Sinderins triangle: new seating / new planting including trees/ new planters and bins / new ground surface / cycle parking.
Union Place: New community notice board (I spotted in the community council minutes that there was discussion on seeking funding to replace the existing one so have managed to include it within this contract).”
If any resident would like to see the finalised detailed proposals, just e-mail us at westendfocus@dundeelibdems.org.uk and we will send you these.
The tender indicates works taking place between November 2023 and March 2024 although the project manager adds, “lead times on some of the materials is significant. We are seeking to issue the contract as soon as possible after committee so will have a better idea of timescales once we engage the contractor.”
Residents have mentioned to us that the telephone boxes in Perth Road (at the Miller’s Wynd car park – this one is pictured) and in the West Port need flyposting and graffiti removed and a proper clean.
We therefore wrote to BT requesting that this be carried out.
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Fraser is pictured on the north side of Perth Road at a blocked street drain.
In recent weeks, we have had numerous complaints about blocked drains in the stretch of Perth Road between Harris Academy and Glamis Road.
We therefore reported this to the Roads Maintenance Partnership to get them all cleared.
Our friends at The Little Green Larder are hosting the first of our monthly Little Green Larder community Soup Kitchen days on Sunday 30th July between 12 noon and 2pm at the shop at 272 Perth Road.
The team will be transforming surplus food from local businesses into soup and sandwiches, which anyone in our community is welcome to drop in and collect for free.
Find out more at www.facebook.com/events/582338770721084
Residents will recall the information we have previously posted on possible environmental improvements in Perth Road at three locations – Pennycook Lane outside the police station, the Miller’s Wynd car park and area around the West End Community Fridge and the Sinderins “triangle.”
We updated residents back in February with the detailed designs and sought feedback which was very positive. This will brighten up the three sites.
It had been hoped that tender reports for approval would have come to council committee for approval this month but we have been updated by the lead officer as follows :
“The Perth Road project has hit some significant problems at Pennycook Lane.
In short, we’ve uncovered a whole host of underground issues including very shallow foundations on the adjacent building and a large void under the stairs. We’ve had to redesign the solution there to reduce the weight which has caused us a bit of delay meaning we had to miss June Committee.
The next available committee is now August. All 3 Perth Road sites are linked as they’re in the same tender package for the contractors.
On a more positive note, I spotted in the community council minutes that there was an issue with the notice board outside Sainsbury’s and they were looking to make funding applications to replace it. I’ve included a new notice board within the package of works and let them know.”
Many thanks to The Little Green Larder in Perth Road for the invitation to its relaunch event last night, to celebrate the recent revamping of the shop.
We’re pictured with Jillian Crabb, owner of The Little Green Larder.
The shop puts the planet and the people in our community at the forefront of everything it does.
Alongside donating a portion of its profits, it has fundraised over £4 500 for local businesses and charities since opening in 2019.
It also donate excess food to community fridges, and dried foods to our local food banks.
Wishing Jillian and team all the best!
From Jillian and The Little Green Larder team at 272 Perth Road :
We’re a more than profit social business that exists to make sustainable shopping easy, affordable and convenient.
We put the planet and the people in our community at the forefront of everything we do. Alongside donating a portion of our profits, we’ve fundraised over £4500 for local businesses and charities since opening in 2019. We donate excess food to community fridges, and dried foods to our local food banks.
The past few years haven’t been easy for us; we’ve come very close to closing our doors for good. But we don’t give up without a fight. So we’re adapting!
We’ll be investing funds into completely revamping the shop, and relaunching with a new community focused offering. As ever we want to support local as much as possible, offer affordable and sustainable options, and introduce new ways to support our community.
Since the pandemic we’ve received countless emails and phone calls from people in our area who are struggling and suffering from food poverty.
We want to pivot our offering, removing barriers to healthy and affordable on-the-go food, and helping as many people as possible. Introducing freshly made health focused lunch offerings, and a pay it forward wall where anyone grab a voucher for a hot drink or something to eat. No questions asked.
We can’t do this without support from our stakeholders and local community, via our recently launched Crowdfunder campaign at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/thelittlegreenlarder
Like many others, we are hugely impressed with the work of Ben Wilson and his miniature paintings on discarded pieces of chewing gum in the Perth Road – and many other locations.
Ben’s ‘gum pics’ have amazed and delighted pedestrians since he began creating them in 2004.
With thanks to Jillian at the Little Green Larder for the photo montage, you can read more about Ben’s fabulous work at https://benwilsonchewinggumman.com
Over a long period, the Perth Road/Ryehill Lane corner site and seating area has looked very unkempt.
This was in the ownership of JC Decaux who owned the original advertising hoardings at the rear of the site – but they sold it during 2022.
We asked JC Decaux for details of the new site owner which it has kindly provided and we have asked this new owner to have the site properly tidied.
As residents will be aware, the former Lauries Nurseries site is now something of a building site as the care home development has commenced.
We had requests to ask the developer to ensure the Lauries of Dundee sign is saved and had the following helpful feedback from Wellwood Leslie Architects, the architects for developers Simply UK :
“Simply UK and the landowner are in discussion with Dundee Civic Trust with regards to the removal and the donation of the existing signage to the trust.”
As residents will be aware, over a protracted period, we have raised with the City Council that, although real time bus information is working at bus shelters, paper timetables had been out of date since the bus companies altered services at the start of the COVID health emergency in 2020.
Bus stops in our neighbouring authorities like Angus and Perth and Kinross have had timetables restored long since and we were given assurances that timetables in Dundee would start to make a reappearance.
We asked for an update and the council’s Senior Transport Officer updated us as follows :
“We have now prepared, printed and set out timetable information at around 350 bus stops across the city.
We have focused our efforts on the busiest stops where passenger loadings are most significant.
We are reviewing the datasets provided to us by the bus operators before we generate any further displays.”
There’s updated timetables on the Perth Road bus stop at Party Wizard but, as the photo indicated, it had been covered in an unauthorised advert. We asked the council to have the glass panel cleaned and were promised this would be done.
Residents will recall the information we posted back in June and September 2022 – see www.dundeewestend.com/2022/09/environmental-improvements-for-perth.html and www.dundeewestend.com/2022/06/environmental-improvements-for-perth.html – on possible environmental improvements in Perth Road at three locations – Pennycook Lane outside the police station, the Miller’s Wynd car park and area around the West End Community Fridge and the Sinderins “triangle.”
These were simply ‘concept drawings’ and we insisted to the City Council that it provided detailed designs for public consultation and feedback before the final designs go to tender and these have now been provided – see below.
We would welcome residents’ feedback ASAP and this will also be discussed at the West End Community Council meeting tonight – 7pm at Blackness Library – all welcome!
The illustrations have had to be reduced in file size to enable them to be posted. If you would like a copy of the original high definition PDFs, please e-mail Fraser at fraser.macpherson@dundeecity.gov.uk – many thanks.
The Gate Church at 158 Perth Road runs its parent and child group ‘Treasured Tots’ on a Monday from 10am to 12.30pm.
This is a free group for parents and carers of young children.
These are drop in sessions and you can drop in any time between the opening and closing times.
Residents recently contacted us about a number of potholes and road defects including the one pictured on Perth Road around the Invercarse Hotel entrance and just east of it on the north side of the road.
We reported this to the Roads Maintenance Partnership and received the following helpful response :
“An order has been raised for repairs to be carried out.”
Cosy Rooms at The Gate, 158 Perth Road continue on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays – 10am to 4pm.
An open drop-in with tea, coffee and soup for anyone who’d like to warm up while enjoying some good company.
We are grateful to Gate Church for this excellent initiative!
Some time ago, we reported to the Roads Maintenance Partnership that one of the two bollards on Perth Road near the bottom of Ryehill Lane (just west of Dil Se restaurant) was missing and also asked that it repaired the grating adjacent to the bollards as it was knocked off and needed reinstated.
The bollard was promptly repaired but the grating – polychannel – remains to be sorted.
We have now been promised that a programme of polychannel repairs has been agreed so hopefully this will be resolved soon.
Residents will recall our update in September – www.dundeewestend.com/2022/09/environmental-improvements-for-perth.html – about consultation on possible environmental improvements for parts of the Perth Road shopping area – at the Sinderins ‘triangle’, Pennycook Lane in front of the police station and at the Miller’s Wynd car park.
We recently asked the City Council’s Head of Planning and Economic Development for an update on timescales and further consultation with the community and have been updated as follows :
“Considerable progress has been made in identifying projects within each of the five District Centres. However, there are some challenges around delivery and this is impacting on the pace at which projects are progressed.
This includes the need for public involvement and consultation in relation to projects; the capacity of Council staff to support project design due to high demands across a wide range of projects; the time involved in securing statutory approvals, for example traffic orders; the availability of contractors to undertake the works; and delays relating to the availability of some materials.
The projects proposed in Perth Road are:
Miller’s Wynd Park – Work to improve the surface and seating in front of the community fridge and provide planting/root protection for the trees.
Pennycook Lane – Work outside the police station to install planting and a seat.
Sinderins – Work at the Sinderins junction to install planting and seating.
Perth Road – Work to relocate the bus shelter at the post office.
The public consultation for each of these projects is largely complete and delivery is being arranged through the City Engineers. The projects will be completed during 2023.
The (initial) consultation for the Perth Road Projects was concluded at the end of September. The responses were then forwarded to the Landscape Architects and Engineers to produce final designs. I understand you have requested that these be brought back to the West End Community Council for further consultation. Only after that is complete will we be in a position to start the tender process.
There are challenges around delivery and this is impacting on the pace at which all projects throughout the City are progressed. There continues to be very substantial demand upon the resources available within the City Engineers and Landscape Architects and consequently the projects are regrettably progressing slower than we would like.”
We would add that the work to make the bus shelter at the post office more accessible will be undertaken fairly soon after the festive break.
Michael is pictured on the south pavement of Perth Road where we have received residents’ complaints about the poor condition of the footpath which has been repeatedly patched and is very uneven.
As one resident put it :
“I have noticed considerable deterioration along this stretch.
This is a narrow footpath which is extremely uneven and badly patched.
When it rains the whole stretch becomes a massive puddle.”
We have taken this up with the council’s Roads Maintenance Partnership requesting an improved pavement surface here
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Further to the good news we reported at the end of August that, from this month, bus service 39 would have some journeys going via the far west end of Perth Road around Millbay Terrace, Millbay Gardens and Clovis Duveau Drive – an area completely lacking bus services in recent times.
We are pleased to say this welcome re-routing has now taken place. The first journey going towards Kingoodie in the morning is just after 0941 running until 1741 with return journeys into the city centre starting around 0915 running until 1615. The timetable is given below.
The City Council has agreed with our request that it works with Stagecoach to promote the service. We have also asked that the bus stop city centre-bound on Perth Road at Clovis Duveau Drive is reinstated, of benefit to both local residents and also visitors to the Riverside View Care Home.
Residents have contacted us about the poor state of the BT phone box in Perth Road at the Miller’s Wynd car park. Fraser is pictured at the box which is in a poor state of cleanliness.
We contacted BT about this who advised :
“I will arrange for the kiosk to be cleaned within the next 5 working days.”
We also asked if the company would consider changing the phone box to a ‘red heritage style’ traditional phone box as many residents have said this would be more in keeping with the conservation area.
However, the BT response was not positive on that aspect as the company says it will never replace phone boxes like this one with the red boxes – a disappointing response.
Residents will recall that we recently posted ‘concept drawings’ of possible environmental improvements that could be funded through the Town Centre Fund.
In terms of possible viable projects, three were identified – Pennycook Lane outside the police station, the Miller’s Wynd car park and area around the West End Community Fridge and the Sinderins “triangle.”
The drawings we previously circulated covered the area round the car park and in front of the police station.
The council’s City Development Department has now provided similar drawings for the Sinderins “triange” – a site that, in our view is crying out for an upgrade.
The council would welcome feedback – but firstly a few points the department gave us about the drawings!
* The colours shown on the sketches are not fixed and appear more vivid that they’ll be in real life (that’s just a consequence of the software used for the sketching).
* The existing seating will be removed and refurbished – it is anticipated that the seating will likely be re-used at a later date in Taits Lane.
* The design of the seating could be either a modern style similar to https://www.allurban.co.uk/portfolio-items/neoromantico-clasico/ or a more heritage look like the seating already installed at Seabraes. The colour of the metalwork can also be chosen by the community.
* No additional lighting is proposed at this stage, though the council would be happy to consider that.
We would add that refurbishing the existing seating and relocating it to Tait’s Lane would be most welcome as we have previously raised with environment management the poor condition of the existing seating there.
Residents may recall that some months ago, Fraser took part in a walkabout around the Perth Road district shopping centre, the purpose of which was to look at possible environmental improvements that could be funded through the Town Centre Fund.
In terms of possible viable projects, three were identified – Pennycook Lane outside the police station, the Miller’s Wynd car park and area around the West End Community Fridge and the Sinderins “triangle.”
The council’s City Development Department has now created “concept drawings” for Miller’s Wynd and Pennycook Lane (Sinderins “triangle” to follow) and these are shown in the photos below. These are initial ideas, not the final design.
Feedback from residents would be appreciated and the subject will be discussed at tonight’s West End Community Council meeting, taking place at 7pm in Logie & St John’s (Cross) Church Hall – Shaftesbury Terrace – all welcome.
We recently received complaints about the poor condition of the tactiles at the crossing point on the south side of Perth Road just west of Shepherd’s Loan. See photo below :
We raised this with the Roads Maintenance Partnership Manager who has responded positively below :
“With regard to the worn stick down tactile slabs, we will look to replace the damaged items in due course.”
We are grateful to the residents who contacted us on Monday about the dreadful vandalism of a number of bus shelters along Blackness Road and Perth Road – see below :
We raised this with both Police Scotland and the transportation team at the City Council; the latter to ensure that repairs are undertaken.
Yesterday, Fraser had the pleasure of meeting with Linda Brownlee, President of Dundee Art Society, at the Roseangle Gallery to view “Perth Road – a personal history” – a private commission for a West End resident.
It is superb and in two canvasses measuring 9ft by 4ft features well-known Perth Road landmarks and the surrounding area.
It will be on display in the gallery from 4th to 11th June and thereafter for a few weeks in Mennies.
Linda will have her first solo exhibition in August at EAStudios in Broughty Ferry where she’ll have 60 Dundee artworks on show – don’t miss it!
I have received complaints about the neglected area of ground on Perth Road at the top of Westfield Lane.
The site owned by JC Decaux who used to have an advertising hoarding there.
I contacted the company about this and have had the following helpful reply :
“I have asked for the regional team to attend to tidy the site.”
Many thanks to the residents who recently highlighted to me that one of the two bollards on Perth Road near the bottom of Ryehill Lane (just west of Dil Se restaurant) was missing.
I reported this to the Roads Maintenance Partnership and also asked them to repair the grating adjacent to the bollards as it was knocked off and needed reinstated.
Cllrs Fraser Macpherson and Michael Crichton 
