Councillors Fraser Macpherson & Michael Crichton - working for the West End
Fraser has been LibDem Councillor for the West End on Dundee City Council since 2001 and has topped the poll in all of the six council elections he has contested. Michael was elected to also represent the West End from May 2022 and is a hard-working addition to the West End LibDem team.
Friday, 24 March 2023
Temporary Traffic Order – Seafield Road
Thursday, 23 March 2023
Path from Tait’s Lane to Peddie Street #dundeewestend
Residents will recall that we have previously highlighted the unkempt state of this path, particularly the planters and a lot of graffiti.
Wednesday, 22 March 2023
Victoria Gardens energy efficiency event #dundeewestend
This Saturday at 11am, the Victoria Gardens community garden will have an energy saving/advice talk from Home Energy Scotland.
All welcome and free to attend!
Tuesday, 21 March 2023
School crossing patroller vacancies - West End Campus #dundeewestend
Monday, 20 March 2023
Weekly Road Report – West End Ward #dundeewestend
Sunday, 19 March 2023
Getting things done - Roseangle playpark #dundeewestend
We recently received concerns that the climbing rope next to the slide at the Roseangle playpark was broken.
Saturday, 18 March 2023
Getting things done - Elliot Road and Glamis Road #dundeewestend
We recently again received concerns about the difficulty at times for drivers accessing or egressing Elliot Road at the junction with Glamis Road due to some vehicles parked very close to the junction.
Friday, 17 March 2023
Getting things done - Western Cemetery #dundeewestend
We recently received concerns about gravestones in the Western Cemetery lying in their sides and sought an explanation from the City Council.
Thursday, 16 March 2023
Dundee Art Society talk #dundeewestend
The next Dundee Art Society talk is this Friday evening - 17th March - 7pm to 9pm at the Roseangle Gallery.
Wednesday, 15 March 2023
Carole and Alan Prior at the Wighton Heritage Centre!
Tuesday, 14 March 2023
Botanic Garden - research project #dundeewestend
Monday, 13 March 2023
Weekly Road Report – West End Ward #dundeewestend
Sunday, 12 March 2023
Getting things done - Union Place #dundeewestend
We have received complaints about the unkempt paths at the Union Place car park.
We have therefore raised this with environment management at the City Council to ensure a tidy-up takes place.
Saturday, 11 March 2023
Dundee Community Toolbox
Friday, 10 March 2023
The City Council's CONNECT team
The CONNECT team is part of Council Advice Services and gives assistance to anyone requiring help with income maximisation, benefit form filling and benefit problems.
Thursday, 9 March 2023
Getting things done - Tullideph Road - an update #dundeewestend
Wednesday, 8 March 2023
Invergowrie Medical Practice update
A number of residents have contacted us about the unfortunate possible closure of the Invergowrie Medical Practice from 16th June.
- Invitation to submit a business case for another GP Practice to take over the practice contract
- Merge with another independent practice
- Merge with one of the two Dundee practices already operated directly by NHS Tayside
- Operate the practice directly by NHS Tayside
- Close the practice and disperse patients across other practices in surrounding areas
Tuesday, 7 March 2023
Getting things done - Queen Victoria Works #dundeewestend
Residents will be aware that we have repeatedly raised the security of the former Queen Victoria Works site that is situated between Brook Street and Douglas Street.
We are grateful to the residents who recently highlighted to us that one of the boarded up access doors was open and persons had accessed the site - very worrying as it is not a safe environment.
We immediately raised this with the City Council who had it repaired (see photo) and advised :
"I can confirm the
door breached at Queen Victoria Works has been secured and recorded against the
relevant record.
We are currently awaiting the cost from the contractor and we will add this to the cost recovery process once we are in receipt."
We have also asked for an update from the council on its progress with engagement with the Dubai-based owners, as we are anxious to see a positive future use of the site.
Monday, 6 March 2023
Weekly Road Report – West End Ward #dundeewestend
Sunday, 5 March 2023
West End Third Sector Network #dundeewestend
Thursday 9th March sees the next meeting of West End Third Sector Network taking place at Dundee Science Centre at 14 Greenmarket.
Saturday, 4 March 2023
Citizen of the Year 2023
Friday, 3 March 2023
Let's plant a woodland! #dundeewestend
Thursday, 2 March 2023
Ben Wilson - "chewing gum man" #dundeewestend
Like many others, we are hugely impressed with the work of Ben Wilson and his miniature paintings on discarded pieces of chewing gum in the Perth Road - and many other locations.
Wednesday, 1 March 2023
Getting things done - Perth Road/Ryehill Lane corner site - further update #dundeewestend
Over a long period, the Perth Road/Ryehill Lane corner site and seating area has looked very unkempt.
Tuesday, 28 February 2023
Friends of Wighton - Lunchtime Recital tomorrow!
Monday, 27 February 2023
Weekly Road Report – West End Ward #dundeewestend
Sunday, 26 February 2023
Harris Academy FPs' lunch #dundeewestend
The Harris Academy Former Pupils' Association is holding a lunch on Monday 6th March from noon - for a 12.30pm start.
All FPs welcome - please contact Dorothy Drummond, President of the FPs' Association, at dorothy.s.d@outlook.com or call 668619.
Saturday, 25 February 2023
Lauries of Dundee sign #dundeewestend
As residents will be aware, the former Lauries Nurseries site is now something of a building site as the care home development has commenced.
We had requests to ask the developer to ensure the Lauries of Dundee sign is saved and had the following helpful feedback from Wellwood Leslie Architects, the architects for developers Simply UK :
"Simply UK and the landowner are in discussion with Dundee Civic Trust with regards to the removal and the donation of the existing signage to the trust."
Friday, 24 February 2023
Dundee Women's Festival 2023
Thursday, 23 February 2023
Victoria Gardens seeds and plants swap - all welcome! #dundeewestend
Wednesday, 22 February 2023
Getting things done - underpass near Clovis Duveau Drive #dundeewestend
There is unfortunately again a lot of graffiti in the underpass across Riverside Avenue around Clovis Duveau Drive to Invergowrie.
Tuesday, 21 February 2023
A cleaner city : Liberal Democrats’ big offer for Dundee council budget
Dundee City Council’s Liberal Democrat councillors have released their full budget proposals ahead of Thursday’s council budget meeting and have proposed re-hiring every single street cleaning post in Dundee axed by the SNP since 2015. That’s some 39 posts, the SNP having cut the number of full time equivalent street cleaning jobs from 115 in 2015 to just 76 today.
Group Leader and West End Councillor Fraser Macpherson said, “We continue to get many complaints from constituents about street cleaning in the city which is simply not as good as it used to be. The street sweeping staff left do a really good job but there’s just not enough of them now. It has been a picture of decline in the staffing resource year after year under the SNP.
“Not only has the SNP cut 39 posts, there’s an additional 16 vacancies that have not been filled. So with just 60 street cleaners in post at the moment, staffing levels currently in post are little more than half the staff that were in place in 2015.
“Environment management generally has lost significant staffing since 2015 and in our view has borne a disproportionate share of the cuts. For example, leaving aside cleaning the streetscape, the council’s Director of Neighbourhood Services has confirmed to us that grounds maintenance staff who maintain Dundee’s parks and open spaces has declined by 27 full time equivalent posts since 2015.
“We want a cleaner city – not litter lying, overflowing Eurobins, litter bins and dog bins and to achieve this we need to help existing staff with the load they already have by adding more street cleaning staff so we have found the funding necessary to reinstate every single street cleaning post lost over the past 8 years. We’ll also create new posts in forestry and animal control and add to the community safety warden and countryside ranger staff resource.”
To pay for this, the Liberal Democrats have identified a large range of small savings right across the council in areas like equipment and furniture, car allowances, travel and subsistence and also hospitality. This would include scrapping the second civic vehicle and removing alcohol purchases. It would also mean greater recharges for providing services to third parties. The Liberal Democrats also aim to propose a lower council tax increase than the SNP’s proposed 4.75% increase.
Broughty Ferry councillor Craig Duncan added, “We are also proposing an additional £2 million next year for roads resurfacing, £1 million on pavements resurfacing to properly tackle the state of many footpaths and road surfaces that we get so many complaints about.
“We are also proposing to save local supported bus services including the 206 service in my own Broughty Ferry area that are proposed for the axe by the SNP. We want to save this service as well as others in the West End/Lochee, Kirkton/Lawside/The Glens and Mill O’Mains/Mid Craigie and cuts to Service 10.
“We are also proposing to save the sheltered shoppers’ bus and the ‘Out & About’ bus service that the SNP intends to end. We feel this will be detrimental to the elderly folk who rely on these services and would be an unkind and inappropriate thing to remove these vital services for older people.”
West End councillor Michael Crichton added, “We are also proposing improvements to the City Centre and District Shopping areas with a £1 million for shopfront upgrades and other exterior improvements such as improved lighting, painting, stonework repairs and repositioning façade signage in the City Centre targeted on Murraygate and Reform Street to complement the existing scheme recently agreed for Union Street.
“A further £1 million will be shared across the five district shopping areas – Stobswell, Hilltown, Broughty Ferry, Perth Road and Lochee – to undertake further environmental improvements there.
“We also want to double the frequency of bus shelter cleaning back to monthly as it used to be before the SNP halved it last year. We are determined to see real environmental improvements in our shopping areas, particularly in the city centre.
“We’ll also reduce parking charges in areas like Hilltown and Broughty Ferry and abolish the West End car parking charges altogether.”
Strathmartine councillor Daniel Coleman said, “The Liberal Democrat Group will try stop the SNP proposal to hike the brown bin charge yet again – to £45 from 2024 – and would seek to cut it to £35 to support the recycling effort in Dundee.
“We also aim to oppose
the SNP’s increase in the bulky uplifts charge and would aim to cut the SNP
proposed charge by £9 per collection.
“We are also strongly against the SNP’s proposal to cut 10% off local community regeneration funding. Not only will we oppose this SNP cut but our budget alternative aims to give each local area an extra £10 000 each specifically for localised cost of living support.
“There are areas where we will support parts of the SNP budget – for example, their areas of additional expenditure like supporting Dundee’s food network.
“We would also continue to provide support to Sistema’s Big Noise Douglas that the SNP says it will no longer support.”
Councillor Macpherson concluded :
“Liberal Democrat budget
proposals also allow for growth in key areas like supporting local communities,
roads and pavements improvements, shopping area improvements and keeping our
streets cleaner.
We have listened carefully to the issues our constituents are raising and feel our proposals are fair and deliverable.”
Monday, 20 February 2023
Weekly Road Report – West End Ward #dundeewestend
Sunday, 19 February 2023
Liberal Democrats slam Dundee SNP budget proposals - "the city needs better"
The Liberal Democrat Group on Dundee City Council has responded to the SNP administration budget proposals by saying it has ‘very significant’ concerns at many of the SNP cuts and it will be moving an alternative set of budget proposals at Thursday’s crunch budget meeting.
Saturday, 18 February 2023
Getting things done - Rockfield Crescent #dundeewestend
Friday, 17 February 2023
Getting things done - footbridge south of Harris Academy #dundeewestend
The principal engineer at the City Council dealing with this has further updated us on progress with repairs as follows :
We are consulting with Network Rail to formalise their required Basic Asset protection agreement (BAPA), line possession dates and estimation of their costs.
Also, we are currently putting together tender contract documentation for the required bridge repairs, which we hope to have issued in the next few weeks for contractors to price.
Thursday, 16 February 2023
Bus timetables concern - an update #dundeewestend
Wednesday, 15 February 2023
Fuel Well 3 applications open
The Fuel Well scheme has already helped over 10 000 Dundee households with their energy costs and has now reopened to new applications.