Riverside Place

Getting things done – flooding issue update #dundeewestend

Many residents have recently reported to me extensive flooding frequently around the bus stop on Perth Road opposite Riverside Place.   I highlighted this with an initial response from the council’s Roads Maintenance Partnership at the end of last month.
 
I have now had a more substantive response from the Roads Maintenance Partnership’s engineer who has been investigating the matter – this reads as follows :
 
“I have been on site … with a colleague from Tayside Contracts and we are proposing to dig up and investigate the slow running gully at the bus stop. 
 
We are also planning on installing slot drains, upsizing a nearby gully and will also carry out a minor surfacing repair to the carriageway. 
 
This all combined should alleviate the flooding at this location. 
 
Unfortunately due to the issue being located at Perth Road this is classed as traffic sensitive so we have to wait until the 3rd December before we can start the works. 
 
In the meantime I will arrange for the gullies here to be cleaned and will continue to monitor the area until the works have been completed.”

Flooding tackled – Perth Road

Residents recently raised with me flooding concerns on Perth Road opposite the junction with Riverside Place – at the bus stop and shelter.
 
I raised this concern with the Roads Maintenance Partnership and have now been advised :
 
“The Road Inspector for this area was out at this location has advised that a new pot is to be installed at this location.  He has raised an order to get works carried out by Tayside Contracts.”

Riverside Place – Footway Reconstruction

As I have previously raised residents’ complaints about the state of the pavements in Riverside Place with the Road Maintenance Partnership, I am pleased to receive this update from the City Council :
 
“I wish to notify you that work is programmed to commence at the above location on Wednesday 8th May 2013, and will last for approximately 2 weeks.  
 
The Contractor for the works is Tayside Contracts.
 
No on-street parking will be permitted on the carriageway (except disabled parking) during the works. Access to properties driveways will be provided to residents requiring access. 
 
Please accept my apologies for any disruption these works may cause but I am sure that you will understand that to reconstruct the footway necessitates a degree of inconvenience to properties in the area.”

Riverside Place

Following concerns from residents about road safety at the bend in Riverside Place where the main leg of the road goes to the east after drivers come into Riverside Place from Perth Road, I raised this with the City Council and have received the following positive feedback :

“I have checked the existing road markings on the aerial photos (street is under currently under snow).  

The existing road markings are in a poor condition and require to be re-marked. Being more visibly may be all that is required.”

Latest West End Updates …

* Following residents’ complaints about potholes at the junction of Riverside Place and Perth Road, I reported this to the City Council. I have now had feedback as follows :

“An order has been raised by the area inspector for the filling of a number of potholes at the Riverside Place/Perth Road junction and this will be done within the next 28 days.”

* A resident pointed out to me that there is inadequate street signage for Hazel Avenue – signs are missing at the junction with Hazel Drive and there is only one, poor conditioned, one at the junction with Perth Road. I reported this to the City Development Department and have received the following response :

“The street name plates at Hazel Avenue referred to in your email below will be checked within the next two weeks.

It is unlikely that any replacement signs will be erected by the end of the financial year however those required will be attended to as soon as possible thereafter.”

* I also received complaints about overgrown shrubbery protruding onto the pavement on the north side of Perth Road at its very western end, near to West Loan. The shrubbery is in the ownership of the land-owners, a manufacturing company, and the City Council will request that the foliage be trimmed.

November West End Community Council Update

I have now launched my November Update to West End Community Council.

Subjects covered include school buses in the West End, Dundee Airport parking charges, West End Christmas Week, signs in Osborne Place and the boundary fencing round the former Homebase site on Riverside Drive.

You can read the update by going to http://tinyurl.com/weccnov09.

The Community Council meets tomorrow at 7pm, at Logie St John’s (Cross) Church Hall in Shaftesbury Terrace.

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.

More on Tait’s Lane and graffiti update

As many will have read in the media, I have asked the Health & Safety Executive to look into the circumstances surrounding the terrible events that led to the death of a family pet last Friday. As I explained on North Tonight on STV, an independent examination of the circumstances is vital. Scottish Hydro Electric has asked to meet with me tomorrow morning and I have agreed, subject to the reassurance that they are also updating the dog’s owners. There has been great concern in the community about what happened.
On a different matter, last month I raised the issue of significant graffiti on Riverside Drive (click on headline to view the original story and extent of graffiti) and delighted at the improvement – see right – all credit to the City Council on this.

And thanks too to Network Rail, who tackled the graffiti I raised earlier this month near the rail line near to Riverside Place/River Crescent – as reported in today’s Courier.

Rail bridge again … err … different one!

There’s another rail bridge west of the one mentioned in yesterday’s blog entry – near to Riverside Place/River Crescent (and not for vehicles). Following complaints about the extent of graffiti there, I contacted Network Rail and here is their response :
“The graffiti concerned has now been removed. We also have cleared various railway assets between Dundee and Invergowrie that had been vandalised. The graffiti has been photographed and passed on to the British Transport Police for their records. I hope you are satisfied with the response to this incident.”

Good news on unadopted pavements – Perth Road (Riverside Drive to Ninewells Avenue – South Side)

Last year, the City Council agreed to a two and a half fold increase in funding for the unadopted footways capital programme, something I had argued strongly for. This will ensure that we make real, substantive progress towards getting the poor conditioned unadopted pavements across the City up to standard over the next few years.

The additional funding has already allowed for an increased programme in the current financial year (2007/8) including, in the West End, part of the pavements of Farington Street. I was pleased to learn that, one of the final projects in the 2007/8 year, will be upgrading part of Perth Road’s pavements, on the south side towards its western extremity. Householders living there (from Riverside Place westwards to 596 Perth Road and those between 610 and 630 Perth Road) have now been advised that, subject to their approval, works here on pavement improvement will start in the near future.

The Council will then undertake its 2008/9 programme (yet to be finalised but based on a priority scoring system) and this will benefit pavements in various parts of the City.

On another matter, the road surface (and associated cycle way and lighting) is to be improved on Riverside Avenue (from its junction with Riverside Drive and up to the junction with Wright Avenue near the Riverside Civic Amenity Site) is to be improved, with works starting on Saturday 9th February. The road will be closed during the works, lasting two weeks, with a diversion via Perth Road.