Sinderins #dundeewestend

With thanks to SJ Bogue and Dundee Memories, a great photo of the Sinderins area from 1978 :

Sinderins #dundeewestend

A great historic photograph of the Sinderins.

Getting things done - Sinderins junction #dundeewestend

We have had a number of residents raising concerns about some of the right turns at the above junction, particularly vehicles from Perth Road turning into Hawkhill across the flow of traffic.

We therefore have raised this with the council's roads safety team leader asking if the operation of the junction can be checked out and additional measures such as a review of the lights sequence or better lining be considered.

Getting things done - Sinderins seating area #dundeewestend

We recently slammed graffiti vandalism of a newly upgraded seating area at Sinderins which was not long completed.

Graffiti was sprayed on a new ‘chess board’ outdoor games table at the “Sinderins triangle” and on other street furniture which had been recently upgraded by Dundee City Council with new seating and planters as part of a number of environmental improvements in the Perth Road shopping centre, which also included an upgrade at the Miller’s Wynd Car Park and new planter and seating at Pennycook Lane in front of the Ryehill Police Station.

Residents have commented very favourably on the improvements at the Sinderins seating area that removed old poor-conditioned seating and planters from the 1980s and upgraded the area.

It is not long completed so very disappointing to see such mindless graffiti vandalism take place. We sought a clean-up by the council’s environment team and, although the graffiti will be removed, it is infuriating to see this sort of vandalism and there is of course a cost to the public purse having it removed.

The area is covered by CCTV and we hope that will deter vandalism in the future.

Our local environment manager has updated us as follows :

"Our graffiti removal team is going to visit the area as soon as possible and attempt to remove the graffiti from the newly installed public furniture/chess board."

We are pleased to advise that the graffiti was removed by the City Council yesterday.

Getting things done - Perth Road near Sinderins #dundeewestend

Residents recently contacted us about concerns around pedestrian safety crossing the slip road from Hawkhill to Perth Road near Sinderins, to the immediate west of the shops on the north side of Perth Road.

As one resident advised us :

"Many vehicles turn at a reasonable rate, preparing to slow up. Several, however, come around the bend at speed.

Recently my husband had stepped off the pavement when a car sped round the bend with the driver looking right towards oncoming traffic, completely unaware of the pedestrian on his left hand side. This is not the first time this has happened.

I can walk quite quickly, but many folk can’t. For drivers not used to the setup there, there is no warning sign about pedestrians crossing."

We have raised this with the council's road safety team leader requesting warning signage/road markings to make clear to drivers that pedestrians cross at this location.

"Dundee Decides" - Sinderins Beacon project - an update

Residents will recall that last month I posted an update from the City Council about the Sinderins Beacon public art project, the final part of the "Dundee Decides" participatory budgeting consultation back in 2018.

The other parts of the project that was supported by residents back in 2018 were other public art projects - the "Perth Road" seating at the Miller's Wynd car park and the Eurobins artwork project - had been long-delivered.  

The "Sinderins Beacon", the proposal for an entrance structure at the west end of the shopping area at Sinderins, has taken an age to progress and I have raised concerns about this    Residents have given a variety of views on the design but I have had real concerns about the lack of engagement - over a long, long period - as the Beacon project has moved forward and the detail in the financial outturn. 

On querying this with officers I was very concerned at the way it has been managed.    After the initial seating and artwork projects were delivered, there was just over £14 000 left in the budget.    The actual cost now of delivery of the Beacon at 2021 prices is just over £30 000 - some £16 000 over budget.

As residents will have noted, the preparatory work to construct the Beacon has now started (see photo) and I asked officers if, given the project is alarmingly above budget, if the council was legally committed to the contractor, which it turns out it is.   

I have raised questions about how this project has been managed and why a project so over-budget was "waved through" without any updates or consultation with local councillors before it was committed to.    

I have been assured that the additional £16k can be found through underspends on other projects, but that's really not the point as there should be good financial management on each and every project.    There should also be regular updates on progress to councillors (which I have only ever received when I did the chasing) and also to the community - this project failed at the first hurdle in this respect.

The main points I have made to officers about my concerns are :

(a) any future participatory budgeting projects should have a commitment to keep elected members updated at every stage.

(b) that any material budget overshoot is immediately reported and agreement reached in a transparent way on whether or not to proceed before a project can go forward.

(c) specifically in relation to future public art projects, a proper engagement with local artists and designers is undertaken (and possible competition) so that we make use of the local talent in the city rather than the way this project was developed.   

In the case of the Beacon, the council did seek the input of three community representatives who gave freely of their time and expertise and they should be thanked for their input and efforts.   However, the council "managed" the design process inhouse and making use of the wealth of artistic and design talent we have in the city would be the best approach in my view.   Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design is literally just down the road ...!

In response to my comments, I was advised by a team leader in the City Development department :

"This is the first time that officers and elected members have been part of a participatory budget process and although awards have been won, I agree that there are lessons to be learned including keeping members up to date throughout the process.   

"As part of the Broughty Ferry to Monifieth Active Travel Improvements we will be engaging with suitably qualified artists to submit proposals for public art to provide 'placemaking' on the route.  Hopefully a number of local artists will be keen to be involved and submit proposals for this key project."

I have been sufficiently concerned about this matter than I have taken it all the way to the council's Chief Executive, and I spoke with him last Friday about the matter.   He has positively taken on board the points I have made about how this sort of situation is avoided in the future.     

This is important as the Scottish Government wants to see more participatory budgeting - where the public get a say on what projects get priority - and the City Council will be coming forward with further participatory budgeting in the future. 

Progress with the Sinderins Beacon #dundeewestend

Residents with fairly long memories may remember the "Dundee Decides" participatory budgeting consultation in early 2018.

In the West End, one of the successful projects covered the Perth Road district shopping centre.     Some of that - for example the "Perth Road" seating at the entrance to the Miller's Wynd car park - has been long completed but there have been repeated delays with the Sinderins Beacon, the proposal for a entrance structure at the west end of the shopping area at Sinderins.

I am pleased to say that there is finally some progress towards completing this.     The council's Public Art Planning Officer has recently updated me as follows :

"The beacon is in fabrication and the last details for the site works are being worked on.  

I believe the aim is to complete by 31st March. 

However, I am assuming that it cannot be guaranteed as there a few different contractors involved who effected by the pandemic in different ways."

More information is available below :

Sinderins of old #dundeewestend

With thanks to James Grant Reid and Dundee Westenders, a great view of the Sinderins junction of old, taken from 297 Hawkhill :

Getting things done - Sinderins junction #dundeewestend

Residents have drawn to my attention broken tiles on the pavement at the junction of Hawkhill and east side of Blackness Avenue near the traffic lights.    

I reported this to the City Council's Roads Maintenance Partnership and have now been advised as follows :

"The Road Maintenance inspector has raised an order for the tactile paving slabs to be replaced."

Sinderins junction - road markings

Following the recent road resurfacing of Perth Road (West Park Road to Sinderins), residents have pointed out that the junction markings at the Sinderins junction have been repainted wrongly - the right filter lane to allow traffic heading east into the Perth Road shopping area (from Perth Road west of the library) is now missing - see right :

I took this up on behalf of residents with the contractor (Tayside Contracts) and their Road Maintenance Partnership Manager advises :

"The road marking has been reviewed and compared with the original layout. The lining will require to be altered here to provide formal right turn and straight ahead as per existing pre works set up. At this moment in time there is no “Right Turn or Straight Ahead” arrow.   (It has been) ... identified that cars were operating the historical two lanes without the formal arrows however, we will check the lane width to ensure this is sufficient and if alterations are required these will also be made. 

The reason behind this not being marked as previously is in relation to reviewing the level of detail issued for each job by the Roads Maintenance Partnership. The level of lining information was not as we have provided in the past, this obviously has not been a success and we will review the process to ensure lining details are provided to meet individual scheme needs in future.

We will look to have the amendments carried out at an appropriate time in the near future."

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.

Sinderins - thank you Bonnie Dundee!

In advance of Beautiful Scotland judging on 8th August, Bonnie Dundee has made a lovely job of the planters at Sinderins!

Spring in the West End!

Many thanks go to Dr Ann Prescott for the photo below of the daffodils the Bonnie Dundee group has planted at Sinderins - and they have also planted white primroses in front of Blackness Library!

Road safety - Sinderins junction

A constituent recently expressed concern about the operation of the Sinderins junction, stating:

"I have become increasingly conscious of a potential danger at the foot of Blackness Avenue. There seems to be a great increase in traffic flow at this junction.

Traffic going east from Perth Road into Hawkhill can take so long that the lights change to red forcing traffic turning from Hawkhill into Blackness Avenue  to do so on the red light.

Is there a need for a green arrow to allow the Hawkhill into Blackness Avenue traffic safe passage?"     

I raised the matter with the Head of Transportation at Dundee City Council who has responded as follows:

"I have had my staff in Urban Traffic Control (UTC) to have a look at the Sinderins junction and the signal settings relating to the right turn from Hawkhill into Blackness Avenue.  

The traffic signals allows a significant amount of time for vehicles to make the right turn movement up Blackness Avenue after the main road signal turn red.   Once vehicles have passed the stopline they are allowed to turn right on a red light as the intergreen periods are set up to allow them to do so safely and clear the junction. It is possible to install a right turn indicative arrow however this will require a re-analysis of the junction performance and it could be detrimental to overall junction capacity.  

In the last three and a bit years there has been two slight injury accidents at this location,  one involved a pedestrian who was under the influence of alcohol the other one was a rear end shunt and did not involve vehicles turning right up Blackness Avenue.

As far as increased traffic levels I would assume that this may be related to roadworks in the Central Waterfront area displacing traffic onto other routes such as the Perth Road.  I will arrange UTC staff to monitor this junction to see whether this is a prevalent problem during the peak periods as this is when the problem is most likely to occur."

Seating at the Sinderins

Some weeks ago, I asked Community Payback if the rather dilapidated seating at the Sinderins junction could be restored.

The four benches have now been well-restored - see below - and I'm most grateful to Community Payback for taking on this project:

Getting things done ... Sinderins junction

Yesterday, I received constituent concerns about the length of lights sequence at the Sinderins junction.

The concern was that whilst vehicles sitting in Hawkhill going west into Perth Road have a long period of “green” and many vehicles get through on green, vehicles heading the same direction but leaving from Perth Road (shopping area) to continue along Perth Road get an inadequate time with only 4-5 cars getting through on green.   

The result was build ups along Perth Road eastwards into the shopping area.

I brought the matter to the attention of the City Council's Head of Transportation who advised me:

Lights being repaired at dusk yesterday

"Thank you for advising of local concerns over the operation of the traffic signals.

We are aware of this problem and there is an intermittent detector fault which is affecting the performance of the junction. 

The UTC team and the maintenance contractor are trying to isolate the fault and action a repair."

I was pleased to note late yesterday afternoon that the matter was being attended to on-site by engineers - see photograph (right).

Getting things done : Sinderins junction

Back in August, I participated in a site visit regarding the issue of drivers on Perth Road heading west at the Hawkhill/Perth Road/Blackness Avenue junction mistakenly looking at the “Hawkhill heading west” light at the library.   

The matter was successfully resolved then, with the City Council fitting longer visors to the lights for west-bound drivers outside the library, so the lights there could be seen only from its intended direction of Hawkhill.

However, I received this from a constituent last week:

"I have just driven through the Perth road shops area heading west and the car in front of me mistakenly drove through the lights on red.   The shades/screens didn't seem to be at the correct angle, whereas I distinctly remember them working well some time ago."

I took up the matter with the City Council and have now been advised by a senior engineer:

"I viewed Sinderins junction today and saw that the internal louvre units had been ripped out.    I am putting this down to high winds.  I have instructed our maintenance contractor to rectify these units as quickly as possible."

Retro Dundee - Sinderins

From Retro Dundee - a superb photograph of the Sinderins corner on Perth Road from 1982.     Looks rather better in 2012 and I have recently had Community Payback agree to my request to have the benches at the seating area here repainted:

Sinderins fight concern

As reported in today's "Courier", I have expressed my concerns and those of West End constituents about the weekend fight near Sinderins in which around 30 people were involved and which left a 51-year-old man needing hospital treatment for a head wound.

This is a matter of concern to residents, particularly as it took place in an area where such behaviour is extremely unusual.

I have been in touch with Tayside Police regarding the matter.

Digital switchover confusion

I recently spoke with a resident who lives just south of Perth Road in the Sinderins area.    She was surprised to have received a mailing in the past few days from Digital UK about TV digital switchover when, like all other residents in the area, she had done this last August.

Oh no, it doesn't - it happened last August!

The mailing was aimed at occupiers of flats and it talks about switchover happening from May of this year.   I queried this with Digital UK and am advised by their Assistant National Manager :

"The simple answer is that constituent will have received the mailing as she has a chance of receiving a signal from Craigkelly. Where someone is in an area where there is a chance of receiving signals from different transmitter groups, we include them in mailings for all the relevant transmitters they could be getting their signals from.

We try and target the information we issue as specifically as we can. But, as you can imagine there are some areas where crossovers exist and we have to cover all bases. As you know we do not know which properties have and have not made the switch, so we need to include all possible properties in case they are included in that particular transmitter group.

We appreciate that this will cause confusion for some who made the switch in August. To deal with this, we have a three-point 'What to do' list in the leaflet and the first point is to speak to your landlord or property manager to see if anything needs to be done. Any good landlord/property manager should know the answer to this straight away."

The Craigkelly transmitter covers part of the STV Central area (Edinburgh/Lothians/South Fife) and although quite a few residents in southern parts of the West End may get TV signals from it, it is very much a "secondary" transmitter for the area as its target audience is largely south of Glenrothes/Central Fife.   This resident's primary transmitter is Tay Bridge in the STV North area and it was part of the STV North digital switchover that happened last August.

Although this resident is not elderly, as she points out many of her neighbours are elderly and she's concerned that this mailing may cause them some confusion.    I've pointed out to Digital UK that I doubt there's more than a small handful of people in Dundee who have not already made the digital switch - the vast majority of residents will have transferred to digital TV either before or at the STV North switchover last summer.

The message is simple - if you get a mailing about digital switchover and you have already switched to digital TV, ignore the mailing - but if you need any advice, contact Digital UK on 08456 50 50 50.