South Tay Street

Electric vehicles’ charging points in the West End

Back in October, I queried at the City Council’s City Development Committee the proposed possible siting of an electric vehicle charging point on Perth Road, west of Shepherd’s Loan, at the Sinderins junction – see right.
 
Yesterday, along with a representative of West End Community Council, I met with the council’s Head of Transportation and the Sustainable Transport Team Leader on-site to discuss this.    
 
Although the principle of providing public electric vehicle charging points is a good one, my concern about this possible site was sight lines for vehicles emerging from Pinegrove.    I am pleased to say the City Council is not proceeding with this site.
 
We took a walk down Perth Road and into South Tay Street to look at other proposed sites, all of which appear to be fine.     There will also be parking spots for car club vehicles.    These initiatives are being done in such a way as to minimise any loss of general-use car parking.

Traffic Order : South Tay Street

Again, from the City Council :

DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL :   ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984

DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL (SOUTH TAY STREET ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS) (VARIATION OF WAITING RESTRICTIONS) ORDER 2010 

Dundee City Council proposes to make an Order under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, the effect of which will be to facilitate environmental improvements in South Tay Street. 

Full details of the proposals are contained in the draft Order, which together with a Statement of the Council’s reasons for proposing to make the Order may be examined during normal office hours and without payment of fee at Dundee City Council offices, Reception, Floor 4, 21 City Square, Dundee by any person, during a period of 21 days from 28 January 2011.

Any person may within 21 days from 28 January 2011 object to the proposed Order by notice in writing to the Depute Chief Executive (Support Services), Dundee City Council, 21 City Square, Dundee. Objections should state the name and address of the objector, the matters to which they relate and the grounds on which they are made.

PATRICIA McILQUHAM

Depute Chief Executive (Support Services)

Busy Monday …

In addition to holding two surgeries today :

* I had a positive meeting with the Chair, Chief Executive and Head of Pharmacy at NHS Tayside about the transportation of drugs issue I have highlighted recently. The NHS representatives agreed to put the policy before the Board’s Improvement & Quality Committee for discussion and have also agreed to my request to retain records for longer.

* I met the Director of Housing and the Housing Strategy Manager about ensuring that the Logie area is given every support to ensure there’s a residents/tenants group into the future, following the recent decision by Logie Residents’ Association to disband.
* I then met with the Sinderins Court and Pennycook Court Residents’ Association and we had a good discussion on a number of local issues, including bus services.
* I attended a lengthy series of City Council meetings tonight – including :
– Education Committee – where I raised a question about preparations for Standard Grade replacement following implementation of the Curriculum for Excellence.
– City Development Committee – where I highlighted my concern that the department’s Service Plan does not include improving parking opportunities in areas of parking difficulties – including parts of the West End. The council’s progress with this issue is delayed and that is unfortunate. I sense no clear direction from the SNP administration to deliver the much-needed parking improvements for the West End. At this committee, I also expressed concern at the loss of parking spaces in South Tay Street.
– Housing Committee – at which I sought assurances that provision of showers will still be made for all people with medical need. In relation to progress with the Scottish Housing Quality Standard, I raised the need to provide controlled entry facilities for tenants in flatted properties.
– Policy & Resources Committee – where I seconded a motion by Cllr Kevin Keenan, Labour Group Leader, to make the proposed so-called Changing for the Future Board more democratic, open and accountable. Unfortunately the SNP group had the usual ‘take it or leave it’ approach and this positive amendment was defeated. And in a similarly unfortunate way, my suggestion that the Development Quality Committee be renamed the Planning Applications Committee (i.e. – it is what it says on the tin) rather than the SNP administration’s meaningless “Development Management Committee” proposal was lost, despite my suggesting deferring the matter for a short time to enable further discussion of the matter. One thing is for sure – the SNP is certainly not for listening to anyone else’s point of view. Nothing new there then.

South Tay Street Environmental Improvement Scheme

There has been some concern and criticism of the current pavement works in South Tay Street and I raised this issue with the City Council’s Director of City Development, who has replied in the following terms :

“The works currently being carried out in South Tay Street relate to an environmental improvement scheme linking west Nethergate/DCA Cultural Quarter with Dundee Rep and the Tay Square.


 
This includes the replacement of the existing footway slabs many of which are broken and uneven. The new slabs are of high quality and are in keeping with those used with the earlier phases of the Cultural Quarter environmental improvements.

 
The South Tay Street works are not repair works and are not funded from the Road Maintenance budget and will therefore have no bearing on footway repairs carried out elsewhere in the City.

It is expected that the works will be complete by early July.”

Temporary Traffic Order – South Tay Street

Dundee City Council proposes to make an Order under Section 14 (1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of facilitating construction works. The Order is expected to be in force for ten days from 21st June 2010.    Its maximum duration in terms of the Act is eighteen months.

The effect of the Order is to prohibit temporarily all vehicular traffic in South Tay Street from Nethergate to Tay Square (at No 18 South Tay Street).

Access to premises will be maintained where possible.

An alternative route will be available for Northbound traffic via Nethergate, West Marketgait, Hawkhill, Hunter Street and Old Hawkhill, and for Southbound traffic via Old Hawkhill, Hunter Street, Hawkhill, West Marketgait (southbound), Riverside Roundabout, West Marketgait (northbound) and Nethergate.

Please forward any comments you may have regarding this proposal to the Network Management Team, City Development 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.