Kevin demands answers on Queensferry High Street project

Many local people in Queensferry have been frustrated by the delays to the much promised project to improve the High Street.

Kevin raised the matter at the last Council and secured some important information.  See below for the written answers received and the video of his follow up question with the Finance Convener.

Question (1) When was the £1m funding agreed for the redevelopment of the High Street in Queensferry?
Answer (1) This scheme budget was first approved at the Transport and Environment Committee on 12 January 2016.

Question (2) What progress has been made in the delivery of the project since this date?
Answer (2) Procurement is progressing for the appointment of a consultant to carry out consultation and design for the project. This appointment should be made by early 2018
and it is expected that the scheme will commence on site in late summer 2018.

Question (3) What specific improvements are expected to be delivered through this project?
Answer (3) The scheme is for sett renewal however it is recognised that this is an opportunity to improve the local infrastructure, parking control, traffic management and pedestrian areas.
A local project board will be appointed to oversee the consultation and design phases to ensure that the scheme takes account of all feedback provided.

Kevin then followed this up with these questions.

Good news as Binks Car Park flooding issues resolved

At the September meeting of the Council, Kevin raised the problem of the flooding at the Binks Car Park.  Just a few weeks later and in response to Kevin’s intervention, work started in the car park.

Whilst the problem was more complicated to resolve that first thought, officials are now confident that the new line put in between the gullies on the east side of the car park and the main sewer pipe have resolved the problem.

Officials have also arranged to resurface the whole of the east side of the carpark.  This will be done over Sundays 29th Oct and Sunday 11th Nov.

The Council has also received a permit application from Bellway Homes who are required to install a large surface water storage tank in the west side of the Binks Carpark. These works are being planned for January 2018. Officials are looking to keep funds aside to allow them to resurface the west side once these works are complete.

Burnshot bridge to be demolished 24 November

We have now been informed that work to demolish the Burnshot Bridge will take place from 8pm on Friday 24th November, until 5.30am on Monday 27th November.

The A90 will be closed for this entire time, with all traffic being diverted onto the adjacent on- and off-slip roads. Routes for pedestrians and cyclists will not be affected during the works, however bus-stops will be temporarily relocated.

The demolition will be undertaken by a sub-contractor called Beattie Demolition, who are experienced in this type of work having recently demolished the B800 bridge as part of the south approach to the Queensferry Crossing.

Council officials have also organised two information events at Kirkliston Library where representatives from the Council and Contractor will be available to answer any questions from members of the public. The dates for these events are:

  • Tuesday 7th November 2.00pm-4.00pm, and
  • Wednesday 8th November 5.30pm-7.30pm

These are ‘drop-in’ sessions, so the public can arrive at any time, but there will be no formal presentation or meeting as such.

Here is the full report we received from officials.

A90 Burnshot Bridge
Progress Update No 6
27 October 2017

Introduction
This note provides an update to Progress Update No 5 (attached for ease of reference). This will be the final update prior to demolition of the bridge.

Monthly Inspections
These inspections are ongoing to closely monitor the condition of the bridge soffit. The next inspection is on Wednesday 1st November. Depending on the weather in November, this may be the final inspection prior to demolition.

Structural Health Monitoring
The bridge joints may be prone to damage from freeze-thaw action during November and so Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) equipment will be installed by a specialist contractor on 1st – 2nd November. This will enable the Council’s engineers to remotely monitor the temperature within the joints, and any movement of the central span, in the lead-up to demolition.

Traffic Diversion
Installation of the new semi-permanent signage is almost completed on site, and so much of the temporary signage has now been removed. The pedestrian/cyclist barrier on the Northbound slip road will remain until such time the permanent footpath/cycleway is installed.

Site mobilisation
The Contractor, Balfour Beatty will be starting on site on Monday 30th October. Initial work will be to secure the site with fencing, provision of welfare facilities, installation of site cabins and some further site clearance.

Following this will be the installation of a temporary steel service bridge, on concrete foundations. To facilitate these works, there will be some single-lane closures during the day, in addition to night-time carriageway closures. Daytime closures will be timed to avoid the morning and evening peak traffic. Approximately 2000 tonnes of crushed rock will be delivered to site which will be used to protect the carriageway during the demolition.

Once the temporary bridge is installed, the public utilities ducts/cables currently crossing the A90 will be moved from within the existing bridge, to the temporary bridge. There should be no disruption to residents’ power, phone or broadband during this work. This work will take place between 10th and 24th November. The temporary bridge will not be accessible to pedestrians, and will be closed-off to prevent any unauthorised access.

Demolition Works
The demolition weekend has now been confirmed. Demolition works will take place between 20:00 Friday 24th November, and 05:30 Monday 27th November.

The A90 will be closed for this entire time, with all traffic being diverted onto the adjacent on- and off-slips. Whilst the diversions will not add any additional distance to journeys, motorists should allow additional time during the day on Saturday and Sunday. Routes for pedestrians and cyclists will not be affected during the works, however bus-stops will be temporarily relocated.

The bus-stop on the A90 northbound will be relocated to the junction at the end of Burnshot Road.
The demolition will be undertaken by a sub-contractor called Beattie Demolition, who are experienced in this type of work having recently demolished the B800 bridge as part of the south approach to the Queensferry Crossing.

Beattie Demolition will close-off the entire site and no access will be available for members of the public. The concrete and steel reinforcement will be ‘munched’ using specialist machinery. It will fall onto the protective layer over the carriageway below, and be transported away from site.
The road will be open to traffic for the Monday morning rush hour and over the subsequent days, the contractor will demobilise from site.

Community Liaison
Open events will be held in Kirkliston Library where representatives from the Council and Contractor will be available to answer any questions from members of the public. The dates for these events are confirmed as follows:
Tuesday 7th November 2.00pm-4.00pm, and
Wednesday 8th November 5.30pm-7.30pm

These are ‘drop-in’ sessions, so the public can arrive at any time, but there will be no formal presentation or meeting as such.

We will be delivering a letter to residents living in the vicinity of the bridge, with some further information for them.

Plans for new bus pay on Station Road, Queensferry

Council roads officials have published plans to create a new dedicated bus bay outside St Margaret’s Primary School on Station Road.

This has followed complaints that the school bus has been unable to park outside the school.  A dedicated bus bay has been requested by the school management and parent council. This will provide a dedicated, enforceable bus waiting and loading space.

A site meeting was held to observe the situation at the end of the school day. The
problem of parent parking affecting the space left for the bus was clearly observed.

It is therefore proposed to provide a dedicated bus stance which shall operate
Mondays to Thursdays (08:15 to 09:15 & 14:15 to 15:30) and Fridays (08:15 to 09:15
and 12:00 to 12:45).

Any comments need to be submitted in writing (by email to trafficorders@edinburgh.gov.uk) with reference TRO/17/19 by 10 November.

You can see all the details here.

Dalmeny Station motion success

We proposed our motion at today’s meeting of the Council, calling for action on the parking and other access problems at Dalmeny Station.

We are delighted to say the motion has was passed unanimously. It means Council officials must now develop a specific action plan for consultation with residents by next spring.

We are very grateful to all the councillors from the other parties who supported our motion.  After all, getting action on Dalmeny Station was one of our key promises at the recent council elections.

The station is a critical part of our local public transport system. Passenger numbers having increased significantly over the last 10 years.

However, we know there are many problems being faced by those living close to Dalmeny Station because of the current levels of car parking, with significant commuter parking on nearby roads and in spaces created for residents in new developments.

Worse still, there appears no clear plan from the Council to begin to address these issues. That is why we  tabled our motion at the  full meeting of Council.

Here is the full text of our motion passed today.

Dalmeny Station

Council notes;
1. the importance of Dalmeny Station as part of the City’s public transport system, with over 100 train services between Fife and Edinburgh city centre each day,
2. how the station provides an important alternative to private car journeys into the city, particularly for those residents who work in the centre of Edinburgh,
3. the growth in the populations of Dalmeny, Queensferry and Kirkliston following major programmes of house building which has led to a substantial increase in the numbers using Dalmeny Station, from 361,000 in 2005/6 to 500,000 in 2015/16,
4. the Local Development Plan which designates significant land in rural west Edinburgh for new housing and which is likely to lead to a further increase the number of passengers using the station.

Council recognises;
(A) the problems being faced by those living close to Dalmeny Station because of the current levels of car parking, with significant commuter parking on nearby roads and in spaces created for residents in new developments,
(B) the difficulty created by the limited parking arrangements, which risks creating a disincentive towards using the station, forcing more commuters to choose to use their car to travel into Edinburgh via the busy and congested Barnton junction and Queensferry Road.

Council welcomes the recent improvements at the station, such as an increase in bike storage facilities, but believes this is insufficient in addressing the wider access issues around the station and that further significant action is needed.

Council therefore instructs officials to engage with Scotrail and Transport Scotland and seeks a report to the Transport & Environment Committee within three cycles. This report should set out an action plan for addressing these issues, including proposals to further maximise sustainable transport options to and from the station along with improved parking arrangements which benefit passengers and local residents.

You can hear our speeches proposing and seconding the motion here.

Almondhill Road street light problems

After being told by the street lighting team to say the temporary lighting measures were in place on Stewart Place and Allison Place, we were assured all lights around Almondhill Road in Kirkliston were working properly.

However, after Kevin did a full walk around, he found no fewer than 10 lights still out as follows

In front of

  • 11 Dudgeon Place
  • 3 Dudgeon Place

On footpaths behind

  • 16 Dundas Place
  • 37 Dundas Place
  • 38 Dundas Place
  • 44 Dundas Place
  • 63 Dundas Place
  • 3 Dudgeon Place
  • 9 Dudgeon Place

On footpath next to 23 Almondhill Road

We have reported all of these to the street lighting team and explained how this situation is wholly unacceptable.  We are going to keep up the pressure until these are fixed.

Virgin media works in Kirkliston – pain but no gain for newer developments?

We only recently became aware that, despite all the road works going on through Kirkliston, some of the newer parts of the village may not benefit from the new Virgin super fast broadband services.
The problems stem from the fact many roads in the newer parts of the village are yet to be adopted by the Council.
The adoption process doesn’t start until 2-3 years after the last house is built and roads are not normally adopted until all remedial works are complete and in compliance with the council requirements. There are still disputes outstanding in parts of the village.
Virgin Media cannot lay cabling unless they have permission from the road owner. In many parts of the village, the roads are still owned by the housing developers.  The developers often don’t give permission because of problems in getting a road adopted if they have allowed additional works over and above the original build.
We have confirmed with Virgin that they would lay cables in newer areas off the village if they get permission from developers as land owners.  We have also had confirmation from one of the developers – Barratts that they will give permission if the council confirm it won’t detrimentally affect their road adoption.
We are now working with the Council roads officials to try and get that reassurance.
We have made it clear how the issues should have been flagged to us earlier as councillors so we had more time to try and develop a solution and before.

Silverknowes roundabout update

The Silverknowes roundabout project remains on track for completion by Friday 15 December.

However, due to the condition of the roadway, roads engineers now say that the roundabout will have to be closed for a longer period of time than first thought – until Sunday 3 December.  This is due to the additional amount of work which needs to be carried out.

The revised plan for the roundabout was agreed after a number of specific concerns were raised about the original proposals, particularity from cyclists.

The changes include;

  • The removal of the cycle lane around the perimeter of the roundabout,
  • The reduction down to one lane on and off the roundabout from Silverknowes Parkway by introducing footway build outs,
  • The creation of a dedicated cycle lane on the north side of the roundabout to the rear of the existing footpath and behind the bus terminus on Silverknowes Parkway,
  • The pedestrian refuge island in Lauriston Farm Avenue to be changed to a zebra crossing,

The 29 bus is currently diverted to use Silverknowes Hill so that it can turn back into Silverknowes Road to travel south.

New plans lodged for old D’Mains RBS

New plans have been submitted to change the use of the old Royal Bank of Scotland branch in Davidson’s Mains to a coffee shop and first floor apartment.

The site has remained empty since the RBS branch was closed over the summer. The Council must give its approval before the use of the site can be changed from a bank.

Comments on the application can be made via the Council’s planning portal. Any and all comments must be submitted by Monday 20 November.

https://citydev-portal.edinburgh.gov.uk/…/applicationDetail…

Disorder in Davidson’s Mains


Many residents have contacted us about the crime and disorder which has been seen in Davidson’s Mains over the last few nights.

This has involved groups of teenagers, with particualr problems around Cramond Road South, Barnton Avenue, Barnton Park and Main Street. There have also been problems inside the grounds of Lauriston Castle.

The issues appear to have start last Wednesday and involved an alleged assault outside Ye Olde Inn. There have also been incidents of serious vandalism to cars, particularly on Cramond Road South.

We have been in keeping in close contact with the local police. We are pleased to see how seriously they are taking this issue and the fact some extra resources were brought in to try and address the problems.

If you see and want to report any anti-social behaviour then please ring 101. If and only if the matter is an emergency then please phone 999.