Getting things done - Shaftesbury Place #dundeewestend

A street sign at the east end of Shaftesbury Place is now missing, residents have reported to us.

We therefore asked the Roads Maintenance Partnership to replace it.

Meeting with residents of Shaftesbury Place

Over a long period of time, I have highlighted the very poor state of the shared roadway/footway of Shaftesbury Place (see right).   

It has never been adopted by the City Council and is one of relatively few unadopted roadways in the city.

Following meetings with residents in the past, I attempted at the council's 2012/13 budget meeting to create an unadopted roads fund to assist this sort of situation, but unfortunately this was outvoted.

Residents again recently highlighted the concern about the deteriorating state of the road and tonight, along with 15 residents of the street, three council officers and two of my ward colleagues, I participated in a meeting at Blackness Library at which the issue was discussed, as were issues around the bin and recycling collection system.

There was a good exchange of views and options tonight and I urged that the residents to consider forming a residents' group to consider the possible alternative solutions.   I'll continue to help residents in any way I can.

Getting things done ... Shaftesbury Place

I advised back in February that residents in Shaftesbury Place had contacted me about the lack of a lantern on a street lighting column at the east end of the street.

I am pleased to advise that the council's street lighting partnership has now advised:

" ... the Street Light in Shaftesbury Place is now complete and the lantern is attached and working."

Getting things done ... Shaftesbury Place

Residents in Shaftesbury Place have contacted me about the lack of a lantern on a street lighting column at the east end of the street - see right.

I contacted the City Council's Street Lighting Partnership about this and have been advised as follows:

"I have looked into this ... and the column was installed but the lantern was left off because of construction works in the area.    

"Now the construction works are complete I will add this to the programme and have the lantern fitted and the supply connected."

Shaftesbury Place - an update

Back in August, I met with Shaftesbury Place residents and a member of the City Development Department of the City Council regarding the extremely poor condition of the unadopted Shaftesbury Place's combined road/footway.

Since then, I have been in correspondence with the council's legal officers to ascertain what might be possible by way of getting this extremely poor conditioned road/footway upgraded and adopted by the local authority.

However, another aspect has been the poor condition of the lighting and I am pleased to report some progress with that.   The City Engineer has advised me as follows :

"The Street Lighting Partnership is in the process of upgrading the existing Street Lighting at this location due the electrical and structural condition of the existing equipment.    The Road Scotland Act 1984 grants legal powers to the Council to install lighting on unadopted roads which the Council feels in its opinion should be lit.   There has been street lighting installed in this street for over 40 years, hence the need for the Council to maintain it."

Shaftesbury Place meeting

Last night, I hosted a meeting at Blackness Library at which residents of the Shaftesbury Place area attended to discuss the extremely poor condition of the street's unadopted roadway.

A senior engineer from the City Council's City Development Department attended to answer questions and provide advice.

Following this meeting, I am now to discuss with the City Council's Legal Manager and the City Engineer ways in which an improvement to this really bad road condition could be achieved.

Shaftesbury Place

Some time ago, I highlighted the very poor state of the shared roadway/footway of Shaftesbury Place (see right).   It has never been adopted by the City Council and is one of relatively few unadopted roadways in the city (as opposed to unadopted footways of which there are well over a hundred).

When the matter was first raised by residents, I contacted the City Engineer about the matter.   There is no easy solution here because, unlike pavements, there is no "Unadopted Roads Programme" to upgrade them.      I understand the former Tayside Regional Council did have such a programme but Dundee City Council has not operated an unadopted roads programme, no doubt given the very small number of unadopted roadways across Dundee.

I have had numerous discussions with residents and correspondence with the City Council over the matter and have now organised a meeting of residents, hopefully to take place later this month at Blackness Library, at which a representative from the City Engineer's Department has kindly agreed to attend to offer advice on the matter.   

Shaftesbury Place

The roadway of Shaftesbury Place is in a really poor state and has never been adopted by Dundee City Council.

Following requests from residents, I have written to the City Engineer about the matter. It seems strange that the street was not adopted, given that all the adjacent streets are on the list of public roads.

I have asked the City Engineer what steps might be taken to have Shaftesbury Place upgraded and brought up to adoptable standard.