Tackling unwanted phone calls

We were interested to learn recently that more than 1 million nuisance or scam calls have been blocked in East Renfrewshire thanks to the installation of call blockers which stop over 95% of suspect calls.

A total of 1,033 trueCall units have been installed by East Renfrewshire Council since 2012, which aim to protect older and vulnerable residents from nuisance and scam phone calls.

The roll out of trueCall units is expected to have saved vulnerable households approximately £6m with an estimated 2,033 scams prevented.

We have therefore been in touch with Dundee City Council to see if this could be rolled out in Dundee.

As initially offering this service to sheltered housing and vulnerable tenants would be an obvious place to start, we raised this with the Director of Neighbourhood Services who leads the housing service and have been promised that the department will investigate our request to look into the viability of providing this service in Dundee.

Blether Tay-Gither – Storytelling in Dundee

Blether Tay-Gither is the Dundee Storytelling Group.

From Sheila Kinninmonth, Blether Tay-Gither’s secretary :

Once again we are meeting in person at Dudhope Castle this coming Tuesday – 27th September.

Time : 7pm to 9pm

Venue: Dudhope Castle

Dudhope Park

Our theme this month if you need one is “Games.”

Join us with a story or just come to listen. There are many types of games that feature in stories, depending on the definition of game; those that are played briefly for fun, celebratory and annual competitions and contests, tricks and pranks, and the games people play.

Join us with a story to tell or just come to listen.

It is not a cafe but we do have access to a kettle and we’ll bring some tea and coffee but if you’d prefer, you are welcome to bring your own.

Hope to see you there.

Road safety at Blackness Primary School – an update #dundeewestend

Residents and parents of pupils at Blackness Primary School have been in touch following Tuesday’s worrying incident at the Hawkhill side of the school where an out of control vehicle hit the barriers on the pavement, shortly after the end of the school day. Police Scotland has traced the driver, who has been charged.

One lady was unfortunately bruised although the outcome could have been a lot worse. Thank goodness no-one was seriously hurt.

We immediately asked for barrier repairs as the previous barriers were totally mangled. We were assured by the Roads Maintenance Partnership that a temporary arrangement was put in place soon after the incident and permanent reinstatement will happen as soon as possible.

However, both the school parent council – Friends of Blackness – and ourselves feel that, in light of this worrying incident, a full safety audit must be undertaken in relation to pupil safety existing the school and heading north to Hawkhill.

We requested this of the Head of Sustainable Transport and Roads at the City Council. Pupil safety is paramount so a full review of the safety situation here really is required.

The council’s Traffic and Road Safety Team Leader has updated us as follows – “I will have someone have a look at the site to see if there is anything amiss … I will also have a look at this accident record of this location as a check to make sure there is no other underlying issues.”

Getting things done – Roseangle #dundeewestend

Michael is pictured at the Roasengle/Perth Road junction where there are concerns about pedestrian safety crossing.

One resident advised :

“My husband and I have been finding the crossing at Roseangle and Perth Road especially unnerving for pedestrians. Specifically when crossing the top of Roseangle going east/west. The geometry of the road means that cars traveling along Perth Road westwards and making a left turn onto Roseangle don’t need to slow down.

I had a car cut me off like this when I was half way through crossing the other day at intimidating speeds.

Changing the shape of the sidewalk or putting posts out part way would make the angle more acute and require cars to slow to make left turns. I think this traffic calming measure would beneficially impact pedestrians in the area, especially with the newly redone Seabraes park nearby.”

We have raised this concern with the council’s Road Safety Team Leader and will keep residents updated on this issue.

Getting things done – Blackness Avenue #dundeewestend

Residents recently highlighted to us that the ‘tactiles’ at the crossing in Blackness Avenue at the Sinderins junction are badly deteriorated.

We raised this with the City Council’s Roads Maintenance Partnership and have received a helpful reply promising replacement tactiles being installed.