South Tay Street

Upcoming roadworks

Due to British Telecom cable duct laying works, the following roadworks will take place in the near future :
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Temporary traffic lights at the South Tay Street/Nethergate junction for a week from Saturday 9th January.
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Southbound inside lane of North Marketgait closed from Wednesday 6th January for 5 days.
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Neither of these roadworks requires a full road closure.

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.

Christmas and Community

Yesterday, we held the first meeting of the West End Christmas Week Committee for 2010. Very early in the year, you might think! However, it is the 10th anniversary and as we want to ensure a superb event to celebrate this milestone – hence the early planning meeting.

We are aiming to hold this week’s Christmas Week from 20th to 27th November – the launch on the 20th being a community fayre involving local community groups across the West End, with the Christmas lights switch on and children’s Christmas concert taking place on Wednesday 24th November – including a superb fireworks display and a carnival, hopefully on a site site at the Duncan of Jordanstone site (we are grateful for the support of the University of Dundee in relation to this). Celebrities, competitions, concerts – a great 10th Christmas anniversary in the West End – don’t miss it!    For the first time, there will also be a lights switch-on event in West Port, to publicise the superb shops in West Port and South Tay Street, too.

Last night, as reported in today’s Courier, I chaired a great public meeting at Dundee West Church aimed at setting up a sports and community facility at Riverside, for the benefit of the West End community, together with a project to repaint and repair the Magdalen Green bandstand, last restored 20 years ago. The photo (below) was taken at the meeting.

If you are interested in hearing more about the project, please e-mail me at community.project@frasermacpherson.org.uk – many thanks!

Variation of Waiting Restrictions

Below is the Notice of Proposal relating to a Traffic Order – the full schedule for the whole of the City will appear in tonight’s Evening Telegraph, but I have indicated those parts of the schedule that cover proposals in respect of streets in the West End Ward :
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL
ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATION ACT 1984

DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL (VARIATION OF WAITING RESTRICTIONS) ORDER 2008

Dundee City Council propose to make an Order under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the purpose of varying the provisions of several Waiting Restriction Orders affecting the City. The effect of the Order is set out in the Schedule below.

Full details of the proposals are contained in the draft Order which together with plans showing the lengths of road affected and 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 during a period of 21 days from 22 February 2008 at the following addresses: –

1. Dundee City Council Offices, 4th Floor Reception, 21 City Square, Dundee.
2. Broughty Ferry Neighbourhood Library, Queen Street, Broughty Ferry, Dundee.

Any person may within 21 days from 22 February 2008 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 objector, the matters to which they relate and the grounds on which they are made.

PATRICIA McILQUHAM
Depute Chief Executive (Support Services)
Dundee City Council

SCHEDULE (insofar as it covers West End Ward)

1. To improve sightlines at junctions and accesses in Hyndford Street/Speed Street, Ninewells Avenue, Perth Road, Shaftesbury Road.
2. To relieve congestion in Perth Road, Shepherd’s Loan.
3. To relieve congestion and obstruction or damage to verges in Magdalen Yard Road/Richmond Terrace.
4. To adjust waiting restrictions to suit new developments or road layouts in Long Wynd, Brown Street.
5. To adjust restrictions to accommodate a taxi rank in South Tay Street.
6. To relax unnecessarily severe restrictions in Brewery Lane.
7. To allow patient transfer vehicles to use James Black Place.

Sunday in Lochee … and great West End photos!

Our Lochee campaign team has returned home, damp, sore legs, but a great day in Lochee Ward! I have just worked out how much extra custom the Tesco cafe at the Stack is getting from the by-election… The SNP did make an appearance today in Menzieshill, but the LibDem team was in Menzieshill, Charleston, Beechwood, Dryburgh … you get the picture!
Anyway, away from damp clothes and worn-out legs – click on the headline above to see some great West End photographs (South Tay Street; Nethergate) and also some of St Andrews.
Nicol Stephen MSP back in Lochee Ward tomorrow afternoon – busy day ahead!