The Great British Pantomime
Every Christmas, Brits flock to the theatres for pantomime season. But the great British panto is neither solely British, nor technically a pantomime.
Weekly Road Report – West End Ward #dundeewestend
DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL – WEEKLY ROAD REPORT
REPORT FOR WEST END WARD – WEEKS COMMENCING MONDAY 20 DECEMBER 2021 TO 7 JANUARY 2022
Strawberrybank – closed at Perth Road (for a distance of 40metres) for one week for chimney repairs.
Forthcoming Roadworks
Perth Road (between Riverside Crescent and Riverside Place) – rolling 2 way temporary traffic lights from Monday 10 January for 5 days for City Fibre works.
Perth Road – westbound lane closure (off-peak) between Blackness Avenue and Windsor Street from Monday 24 January for 10 days for Road Safety works.
Call for action on West End parking charges given “work from home” instruction
I have today strongly criticised Dundee City Council’s lack of action to suspend parking charges in residential areas of the West End, despite the First Minister’s instruction – as a result of the latest COVID situation and the Omicron variant – to work from home if possible.
On behalf of residents, I contacted the City Council to suggest that the council suspend car parking charges while the new “work from home” instruction was in force. However the response from the council’s Head of Sustainable Transport and Roads indicated :
“I can confirm that the Council is not planning to suspend parking charges at this time.”
I am very critical of the council’s inaction on this which flies in the face of the Scottish Government’s instruction to work from home given the latest turn of events on COVID.
The council is placing a disincentive to working from home – something that is not, in my view, a responsible approach.
The West End is unique in the city in having the only Dundee car parks in residential areas with parking charges but without any form of residents’ parking scheme, due to the failure of the administration to make progress on the issue.
We now have a situation where people are being expected to work from home but the council is putting a clear disincentive by taxing residents for doing so.
Because the council will not act to suspend car parking charges, I am taking the bull by the horns and have placed an item on the next City Development Committee which, if successful, would suspend the parking charges meantime.
I would much rather the council had acted responsibly and suspended the car parking charges straight away. Even if I am successful at City Development Committee in getting the charges suspended, committee will not meet until into January, so this is unnecessarily delayed.
West End Christmas Fortnight – the winners! @WEndChristmas #dundeewestend
Good news on St Joseph’s and Victoria Park primaries school crossing patroller #dundeewestend
Residents will recall my update in September expressing concern about the proposal to decommission the school crossing patroller point in City Road at Milnbank Gardens – something I, parents and carers felt would be seriously detrimental to the Victoria Park PS and St Joseph’s RC PS pupils crossing here and completely unacceptable.
I had made clear to the City Council my strong objection to any such proposal and I am pleased to say that this – and the objections of parents and carers – has led to a rethink and it has been agreed to pause the process until the end of May 2022 and seek a replacement school crossing patroller meantime.
It is not necessarily a permanent reprieve but helpful meantime.
I will continue to oppose any moves to remove this school crossing patroller in the future should the matter be revisited.
The Head Teachers are today issuing a letter to parents and carers as follows :
“Decommission School Crossing patroller point – City Road at Milnbank Gardens
I refer to my letter dated 10 November regarding the above subject. Children and Families Service has now completed the consultation stage of the proposal to decommission the above point. There has been one response received from a parent/ carer of pupils attending West End Campus Primary Schools in regards to decommissioning this point. After due consideration it was concluded that although this point has not met the ROSPA/Road Safety GB criteria both in May 2021 and September 2021 we shall put on hold the decommissioning process at this stage.
It should be noted the feedback from the parent commented that the current position of the school crossing patroller point is not situated where the parents /children are crossing. Tayside Contracts has carried out a risk assessment of City Road and have situated the school crossing patroller at an appropriate point on the road which is a safe location. The position that parents wish the point to be situated is at the end of Scott Street which has been risk assessed as not suitable.
The point is currently vacant, Tayside Contracts will attempt to populate the point on a temporary basis from January until the end of May 2022. If at this stage the point is assessed and meets the criteria Tayside
Contracts will appoint a permanent school crossing patroller, if the point does not meet the criteria for a third time then we will commence the decommission process again.
When the post has been repopulated we would encourage parents and young people to use the school crossing point to ensure that the point meets the criteria when it is reassessed. Children and Families and Tayside Contracts Officers will work with members of the parent council to support this process.”
The school crossing patroller post is presently vacant and please see the image advertising the vacancy.