Delaney Calls on Castlegate Re-opening To Ease Congestion

Kingswells/Sheddocksley/Summerhill councillor Steve Delaney has called for the Council to look into the possible benefits of re-opening the Castlegate to through traffic in order to support the pedestrianisation of Broad Street (from Queen Street to Upperkirkgate).

Steve raised this at a meeting of Aberdeen City Council on 5th March, along with a request for discussions to be opened with the developers of Marischal Square on substantially improving the views of Provost Skene’s House from Broad Street. In an otherwise tense meeting, both proposals were unanimously agreed with councillors calling for a further report to come back to a future meeting.

Steve said, “I’m very much in favour of full pedestrianisation of Broad Street to complement a new civic square, but not at any cost. We need to ensure that robust traffic management is in place and capable of handling any displacement of traffic resulting from these proposals, otherwise we’ll create gridlock in our city centre.”

“In order to ensure we get this right I’d like to see all options explored and that includes the re-opening of the Castlegate to through traffic. At present it’s a huge unused space and the current surface makes it very inaccessible, especially for people with disabilities. We need to model in the effect such a re-opening would make to the traffic impact in and around the city centre to establish whether or not this would help support the pedestrianisation plans”

Council Budget 2014/15

Aberdeen City Council held its annual Budget meeting on 6th February 2014. The Priority Based Budgeting introduced when the Liberal Democrats were running the city has led to increased stability and improved strategic planning of the city’s finances. In excess of 90% of the proposals were common to all parties with an element of expenditure available for allocation to specific priorities. It was for each grouping to prioritise how this amount was spent.

The Liberal Democrats, as part of their balanced budget proposals, urged additional investment in education and repairing Aberdeen’s crumbling roads and pavements.

Liberal Democrat proposals would have seen £300,000 of Common Good funds spent enhancing Hazlehead Park and the area around it during 2014/15. Kingswells/Sheddocksley/Summerhill councillor Steve Delaney said, “Hazlehead Park is in need of some serious investment and £300,000 could have done much to upgrade this much loved park. Had the Council supported our proposals this would have seen major revamps of the Queen Mother Rose Garden and the poor quality roads around the park”.

The Liberal Democrats also proposed investing £125,000 for replacement or refurbishment of our childrens’ play parks. Although some improvements have been made, investing an additional £125,000 in play parks would have made a real difference by helping to refurbish and improve play parks across Aberdeen.

Turning towards education, Steve said “We believe investing in our children’s education is vital so we proposed giving an extra £100,000 to schools to buy additional books and equipment. That would have made a real difference to every school in the city. Sadly Labour and their Conservative sidekicks rejected this extra investment in Aberdeen’s children’s future.”

The Liberal Democrats also proposed investing a home safety initiative to help address carbon monoxide poisoning, which is still, sadly, responsible for a number of deaths each year. Commenting on this initiative, Steve said, “Investing £50,000 in this would have allowed the council to work with the Fire and Rescue Service and provide thousands of homes across Aberdeen with Carbon Monoxide detectors. This relatively modest amount of money would have made people across Aberdeen feel safer and quite possibly have saved lives.”

The most significant proposal from the Liberal Democrat Group was to nearly double investment in roads and pavements during 2014/15. Currently Aberdeen City Council has a budget of £2.2 million per annum for this which is clearly insufficient. Had these proposals been accepted, this would have resulted in a total of almost £22 million over the next five years being spent on repairing roads and pavements in Aberdeen

Steve Delaney said “Too many of our city’s roads and pavements are crumbling. What the council must do is invest more in the permanent repair and resurfacing of roads and pavements to bring them back to an acceptable standard. In the long-run that will reduce the cost of jet-patching and other less permanent repairs.”

“Sadly Aberdeen’s Labour and Conservative councillors rejected our carefully costed proposal to invest nearly £22 million in road and pavement repairs over the next five years.”

The Liberal Democrats also proposed abolishing “on street” Sunday parking charges and ending both on and off street parking charges on other days at 6.30pm, rather than the current 8pm.

Steve said, “The Liberal Democrats believe ending on street parking charges on Sunday and making on and off street parking free after 6.30pm would help bring more people back into our city centre on Sundays and weekday evenings. The council should be encouraging people to come into the city centre and not making it more expensive for people.”

As part of their revenue and capital budget proposals the Liberal Democrats also proposed investing:

– £50,000 in installing additional bus shelters

– £50,000 to fund a flood guard grant scheme to help households threatened by flood

– £50,000 in small scale environmental initiatives, providing dog waste bins and warning signs

Kingswells/Sheddocksley/Summerhill councillor Steve Delaney said,”Despite the rejection of this by Labour and Conservative councillors today we will continue to campaign for greater investment in our children’s future, action to repair our crumbling roads and pavements and more effort to improve Aberdeen’s environment.”

Kingswells Roundabout Confusion

Kingswells residents have certainly not been lost for words in recent weeks when it came to the road markings at the new roundabout on the A944! Although the road signs make sense, the road markings do not!

Carriageway marking leading up to the new Kingswells roundabout from all directions are unbelievably daft! When approaching the roundabout from Kingswells road markings suggest you go straight on to Alford when you should turn right! People who are new to the area will go straight on and not right, ending up at Cults.

The same if true coming from the city centre. You turn right to Kingswells and not straight on as per road markings, otherwise you’d end up in Westhill!

If coming from Westhill, you turn right to Cults and not straight on as per road markings, otherwise you’ll end up at Hazlehead.

Also, when coming from the city centre there’s a small section of hatched lines painted on the outside lane on the approach to the roundabout artificially narrowing the road on the approach to the roundabout. This surely defeats the purpose of the road widening and serves no useful purpose. The concern is that this could increase the risk of accidents.

Local councillor Steve Delaney has made numerous representations to the Council in recent weeks regarding safety at the roundabout. Following on from this additional markings have been placed on the carriageway and improved signage erected, but the incorrect markings still remain as does the hatched area.

Steve said, “A safety audit is currently being undertaken. This will look at all issues of concern raised to date as well as the overall operation of this junction. I am hopeful of further improvements being recommended but cannot guarantee this. I continue to have concerns, especially in respect of anyone who is not familiar with the area.”

The outcome of the safety audit will help inform recommendations by the Council which the developer will be obligated to implement. This process should take no more than a few weeks at most.

Labour Led Council Blocks Roads Spending

Aberdeen City Council has once again blocked Lib Dem proposals to increase spending on roads, pavements and lighting. This is the third time such proposals have been knocked back this year. Adding insult to injury, Labour and Conservative councillors referred to the initiative as a “pet project”, completely missing the need to invest more in our crumbling infrastructure.

The Finance, Policy and Resources Committee was informed of a predicted £4 million underspend this financial year. Kingswells, Sheddocksley, Summerhill councillor Steve Delaney proposed setting aside £1 million of the underspend for resurfacing of roads and pavements and the upgrading of street lighting.

Steve said, “We took a responsible view suggesting investment of £1 million in roads, pavements and street lighting, accepting there are competing demands on limited Council resources. Given that the annual roads and pavements budget is £2.1 million (and £20 million per annum is needed for 10 years to bring our infrastructure up to standard), this additional expenditure would have made a real difference”.

“To hear administration councillors describe these proposals as a ‘pet project’ clearly shows their lack of understanding of how to run this city. We need to continue to invest in our city to ensure its continuing prosperity”.

Summer Of Disruption Coming To An End

Kingswells residents have had a lot to put up with over the Summer months by way of roadworks and excessive noise at unsociable hours. Hopefully all is now starting to get back to normal.

Local councillor Steve Delaney has dealt with complaints relating to unauthorised excessive noise from roadworks during the night, early morning noise from the Prime Four site in breach of agreed operating hours and coned off lanes causing severe hold ups when no roadworks were taking place. All issues were taken forward and eventually resolved, often after repeated attempts!

Steve said, “I accept you can’t make an omlette without breaking eggs, but this project has been handled appaulingly by the Council. It should not be necessary to have to make repeated complaints in order to ensure compliance with agreed procedures. Little or no respect has been afforded to local people who, at times, have felt like they were under seige!”

Roadworks are due to be completed within a matter of days. The first phase of the Prime Four Business Park is due to open in a few weeks. There are of course additional phases but hopefully their construction should not impact on local people to the same extent.

A944 Speed Reduction To Be Considered

Steve Delaney has been campaigning for a speed reduction to 40mph on the A944 for almost two years. This came up at Committee with an an officer recommendation to retain the current 50mph limit.

Speaking at Committee, Steve said, “This is the only arterial route into the City which does feature a speed limit of 40mph within such close proximity to the built up area. Anyone who uses this route and sits at 50mph sees countless vehicles overtake them and this happens on a daily basis”.

He also raised concerns over the accident record on the A944 and drew attention to the difficulties being faced by people living in the cottages located on the A944 trying to access their homes.

Committee were not minded to commence statutory consultations on reducing the speed limit now, as Steve had requested, but they did agree to carry out further surveys and report back to Committee in 12 months’ time.

Steve said, “I am somewhat frustrated at the lack of willingness to progress a speed reduction at this point in time but I appreciate the decision to take another look at this issue. It’s certainly a step in the right direction. I have no doubt that a case can be built to support a speed reduction, given the countless vehicles exceeding the limit on this road. I just hope we don’t see further accidents or fatalities which we wait for data to be gathered and decisions to be made”.

More Bickering Over Haudagain Upgrade

The need to address traffic congestion at the Haudagain is of major concern to everyone but it is turning into a political football between Labour and the SNP, with attacks firing across the bows from the Labour led Council and the SNP Scottish Government with increasing regularity, none of which is helping the situation.

Labour want to speed up the decanting of residents in the area which needs to be demolished for the road improvements. New housing is due to be built nearby, but will not be ready within the Council’s revised timescale. The SNP Scottish Government insists construction can’t begin until the Western Peripheral Route has been opened. Whether or not such works could be done in advance of the WPR but following completion of the Third Don Crossing is a question which remains unanswered.

Steve Delaney said, “The upgrade to the junction needs to be done as soon as possible, but shouting for it to be done quicker sort of misses the point. If we carry out works prior to necessary infrastructure being in place, traffic will gridlock during the works. Clearly a modicum of commonsense is needed here. There is also a need to accept that even if families in the affected area could be re-housed sooner, the upgrade won’t happen any faster as these works are the responsibility of the Scottish Government and they will run to their own timetable, like it or not”.

“If we progress along Labour’s chosen route have no doubts about it, the need to re-house 325 families in advance of new housing being built, can only be done by suspending the housing waiting lists and that means a longer wait for people in housing need, many of whom have already been waiting a considerable amount of time for an offer”.

“What we need is a pragmatic solution with Aberdeen City Council and the Scottish Government working together to deliver a real solution as soon as possible rather than the sound bite mentality which delivers nothing. My real concern is that works get delayed beyond currently envisaged timescales as a result of all this bickering”.

Labour Blocks Investment In Roads ….Again

Following on from Lib Dem proposals to increase spending on roads, pavements and street lighting at February’s Council Budget, the Lib Dem Group has proposed allocating additional monies twice and been defeated by Labour and their allies on both occasions.

In March the Lib Dems proposed spending £750,000 of underspend in the 2012/13 Enterprise, Planning & Infrastructure budget towards addressing the poor state of our roads, pavements and street lighting. More recently at the April Finance & Resources meeting they proposed spending an additional £600,000 on roads. Both proposals were voted down by the Council’s Labour led administration.

Kingswells/Sheddocksley councillor Steve Delaney said, “Given the poor state of our roads and pavements, it would make good sense to re-invest surpluses in much needed improvements. This is what we did on a number of occasions when we were running the Council. Shame this administration can’t employ a bit of common sense rather than simply rejecting a suggestion because somebody else thought of it first!”

“I accept the Council is significantly under-funded by the Scottish Government, but we need to prioritise the spending of what we have at our disposal. If they can justify spending £200,000 on a Hogmanay Party, how can they sit back with a clear conscience and watch our roads crumble?”

Bressay Brae Resurfacing

Residents will be aware that Bressay Brae was due to be resurfaced during 2012/13, but this had to be delayed to facilitate the laying of cabling, rather than having a new road surface dug up. Hopefully all residents in the area will have received a letter from the Council regarding the resurfacing works.

Local councillor Steve Delaney said, “I’m delighted and relieved to hear that these works are to start very soon. I have been in touch with the Council regarding access to homes during works, especially for disabled residents, and have received assurances that access to properties will be maintained wherever possible during the works programme”.

Resurfacing works are due to start on 2nd May 2013 from the junction of Eday Gardens with Eday Road to the firepath on Bressay Brae at its junction with Lang Stracht and should be completed within nine working days, weather and unforseen circumstances permitting.

Steve said, “I have brought the condition of the pavements in this area and both roads and pavements elsewhere in the ward to the Council’s attention for repair and replacement and will continue to do so”. Insufficient funds have been invested in our infrastructure by the Labour led Council and the Lib Dems will continue to press for more investment at every opportunity as we have already done several times this year”.

Kingswells Crescent Resurfacing

Kingswells Crescent is currently being resurfaced from Wellside Place to Derbeth Grange. This is arguably the worst road in Kingswells and local councillor Steve Delaney has made numerous representations to the Council about the state of this road over the past year.

Steve said, “This road provides the only means of access to several hundred homes and was literally crumbling. As such it had to be the main priority for Kingswells, accepting there are others in poor condition. I’m absolutely delighted work has finally started”. Works are programmed to run until 30th April, weather and unforeseen circumstances permitting.

Kingswells Roundabout Details

Local councillor Steve Delaney has had a number of queries regarding the new road layout at the Kingswells roundabout and adjoining streets. He has summarised the plans below, but Steve is not a Roads Engineer so it must be accepted that the summary is offered in good faith and is his best interpretation of the drawings. For anyone requiring more detailed information, the plans can be inspected at Marischal College. Please call the Roads service first to arrange a mutually convenient time, so someone can be on hand to answer any queries.

A944

From City Centre westbound towards Kingswells roundabout the approach to roundabout will be three lanes and the roundabout itself will be three lanes. There will be no crossing point due to the widening of the road as this necessitates the removal of the gap in the central reservation. The bus stop beside the Church (eastbound towards the city centre) will remain but the stop opposite (westwards towards Westhill) will be removed as there is no safe crossing point. This stop is not due to be removed until the new bus stops and pedestrian crossing to the west of the roundabout are in place.

Beyond the Kingswells roundabout heading towards Westhill there will be two lanes to a point about half way between the roundabout and the entrance to Prime Four. At this point there will be bus stops on either side of the road and a Puffin Crossing. There will be an island enclosed by railings to allow the crossing of both carriageways. From this point the road widens to four lanes with two being dedicated right turn lanes into Prime Four.

Coming eastwards from Prime Four to the Kingswells roundabout there’s two lanes from Prime Four to the Puffin Crossing then they go into three lanes leading up to the roundabout. From Prime Four to the Puffin Crossing there’s a dedicated cycle lane and a dedicated pedestrian walkway. From the crossing to the roundabout there’s a shared cycle/walkway. This shared walkway terminates at the new Puffin Crossing on the Kingswells/Bucksburn road, providing a safe return route for people using the X17 to get back to Kingswells.

Coming off the roundabout onto the A944 eastwards towards the city centre there will be two lanes.

Kingswells/Bucksburn Road

Northbound from the Kingswells roundabout heading to Kingswells there will be two lanes coming off the roundabout, splitting to offer a third lane dedicated to right turns into the slip road leading to Fairley Road. Just past this junction the remaining two lanes narrow to one and it’s single lane up to the traffic lights at Kingswood Drive.

Southbound towards the A944 there will be two lanes from the traffic lights at Kingswood Drive to the the slip road which goes to Fairley Road. From that point it goes into three lanes down to the roundabout. The Fairley Road slip road will be left only turning onto the Bucksburn to Kingswells road. In other words there will be no right turn towards Bucksburn as there is now. This will necessitate going to the roundabout and coming back, otherwise going to the top of Fairley Road and turning onto Kingswood Drive, which makes more sense.

Kingswells to Cults Road

This will remain single lane in both directions

Bressay Brae Resurfacing Update

Residents have raised concerns about the poor state of Bressay Brae and Eday Road (from Rousay Drive to Bressay Brae) with a large number of potholes on the road and sections of the pavement in a poor state. There were further concerns that Bressay Brae has not yet been resurfaced despite having been on the 2012/13 programme of works.

Local councillor Steve Delaney said, “I have brought the state of the road and the pavement to the Council’s attention and the worst of the potholes have been filled, but many more remain. I can confirm that Bressay Brae remains on the resurfacing programme for this financial year, having been postponed due to roadworks in recent months”.

Lib Dems Propose More Spending On Roads

Liberal Democrat councillors in Aberdeen today urged the City Council to invest an extra £750,000 in repairs to Aberdeen’s roads, pavements and street lights. The move came at the Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure Committee.

Liberal Democrat Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure Spokesperson Councillor Ian Yuill said “Thanks to prudent management by council staff, the Council’s Enterprise, Planning and Infrastructure budget for 2012/13 is set to be underspent by £1.3 million. The Liberal Democrats believe it makes sense to invest part of that in repairing roads, pavements and street lights and in work to improve road safety.

“Sadly the Labour, Conservative and Independent councillors who run the council rejected the Liberal Democrat proposal to invest an extra £750,000 and go some way to tacking potholes and broken roads and pavements.”

Lib Dem Deputy Leader Steve Delaney said, “Lack of investment in our infrastructure is the single issue raised by the vast majority of my constituents. There’s a clear lack of prioritising under the current Labour led Administration when they can set aside £250,000 on a Hogmanay Party when our roads and pavements are crumbling. During previous Liberal Democrat led Councils, we used additional resources to fund additional infrastructure improvements. Please rest assured we will continue to press for increased investment in our city’s infrastructure at every possible opportunity”.

Road Works At Eday Road/Stronsay Drive/Stronsay Place Junction

I have just been informed of temporary road closures in connection with the Tesco development. This will affect the junction of Eday Road, Stronsay Drive and Stronsay Place.

• Eday Road will be closed for a distance of forty metres westwards from its junction with Stronsay Drive.

• Stronsay Drive will be closed for a distance of forty metres southwards from its junction with Eday Road.

• Stronsay Place will be closed for a distance of forty metres eastwards from its junction with Stronsay Drive.

• Finally, Stronsay Drive will be closed for a distance of forty metres northwards from its junction with Eday Road.

The closures will be applied from Wednesday 8 August 2012 for up to four weeks. I will update you as each stage in the works ends and begins. Only one leg of this junction shall be closed at any one time, and these closures shall follow the sequence noted above.

The measures are necessary to protect public safety during traffic signal installation works in connection with the new Tesco development on Lang Stracht / Rousay Drive.

Alternative routes for the first two closures noted shall be via Fernielea Road, Fernielea Crescent or vice versa. Alternative routes for the remaining closures shall be via Stronsay Place, Summerhill Terrace, Summerhill Road, Lang Stracht, Stronsay Drive or vice versa

Friends Of Sheddocksley Park

Work is to be ongoing over the Summer on making the Sheddocksley play park safe and bringing it back into use following vandalism some years ago.

Councillor Steve Delaney, who lives in the area, said, “I’m delighted to have a firm commitment from the Council to bring this much needed facility back into use. As residents will be aware, this small play park is the only facility of its kind in Sheddocksley. I’ve had numerous requests for something to be done about it over the past few years and I’m delighted to see things move forward.”

Steve has also been looking into ways to improve and expand upon what’s already there. He added, “There are real possibilities of accessing external funding to increase the size of the play park and add new play equipment, but only if this is led by a community group. As a parent myself I would be happy to facilitate the creation of such a group, but it needs local people who are willing to get involved.

Such a group would find its own way and could help look after the existing facility or could go the whole hog and become a charity with the aim of raising funds locally and supplementing these from Lottery related sources or other external funding streams. It’s up to the individuals concerned as to how they wish to take this forward and appropriate support would be available to offer advice and assistance.

If you live in the Sheddocksley area and would like to be part of this exiting challenge, please drop Steve Delaney an email.

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