
Getting things done – Seymour Street #dundeewestend

I have reported this to the City Council’s Road Maintenance Partnership (RMP), requesting improvements.
As reported in tonight’s Evening Telegraph, both I and my ward colleague Richard McCready have condemned the shocking assault last Sunday on a 23 year old man who was hit by a vehicle at the junction of Shaftesbury Road and Seymour Street.
He was unhurt in the initial collision but then suffered a broken nose and two black eyes following the driver of the vehicle assaulting him after the collision.
This area of the West End is a very pleasant part of Dundee and this sort of dreadful assault is highly unusual. As I indicated in the Tele tonight, whilst this may be an isolated incident, I am absolutely sure Tayside Police is making every effort to apprehend the individual responsible.
Back in July, I mentioned that at the south end of Seymour Street, there is an area of grass on the south side down which water constantly flows, and then across the pavement of Perth Road.
At the time, I met with a local resident on-site and we agreed that, given there’s a street drain to the immediate west, simply providing a channel to let the water flow into the drain, rather than across the pavement, would be the obvious solution – something I wrote to the City Engineer about.
He has now responded positively as follows :
“Scottish Water has tested the water at the above location and confirmed that it is neither sewage nor water from a leaking water mains.
I have agreed to arrange for a low cost interception trap to be excavated within the grass verge, this will then be connected to the road gully as suggested.
This should hopefully prevent the water from running across the footway causing potential slipping problems in winter.”
“The area inspector for Seymour Street has checked the complaint about the flow of water at the Perth Road/Seymour Street junction and has been unable to ascertain the cause of the water overflowing the footway. Scottish Water is to be notified of the problem as the source may be from their apparatus.”
* I recently reported the damaged street sign at
Hillside Place. I have received the following feedback from the council :“I will check this street name plate during this week and include any replacement in the next street name plate order. As yet I don’t have a timescale for completion of this but will aim to update you when this information is available.”
As I previously indicated (see http://www.dundeewestend.com/2008/02/pathway-adjacent-to-seymour-lodge.html to view), the pathway beside Seymour Lodge will soon be upgraded, with thanks to Tayside Police, who own this popular walkway. The City Council has updated me on the improvement works as follows:
Dundee City Council propose to make an Order under Section 14(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating footpath improvement works. The Order is expected to be in force for three weeks from 8 September 2008. Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months.
The effect of the Order is to prohibit temporarily all pedestrian traffic in Seymour Street from Shaftesbury Road to Perth Road.
This section of Seymour Street is only used by pedestrians therefore vehicular traffic is unaffected.
An alternative route will be available via Shaftesbury Road, Hyndford Street and Perth Road.
Please forward any comments you may have regarding this proposal to the Network Management Team, Planning and Transportation Department, Tayside House, Crichton Street, Dundee, no later than five working days prior to the commencement date.
If you have any queries please contact the City Council on 433168.
A Tayside Police representative has now written to me as follows :
“It is anticipated that they will be on site at the start of September to carry out the works. We tried pushing for an earlier start date but due to their commitments with the school projects that is not possible.”
I have to say that I am delighted by Tayside Police’s very prompt and efficient response to requests for an upgrade that I have received from local residents. The pathway has deteriorated badly over the years and the commitment to resurface it and create a proper pavement edge will be a boon to local pedestrians.
The Police have indicated that it will take some weeks for work to progress as there will be a need to liaise with the local authority on drainage issues. However, their representatives advised that they would progress this issue as a priority.