Firstly, some positive news regarding the walkway at the construction site that was formerly Homebase on Riverside Drive. Although the issues of pedestrian signage and sight lines for drivers were addressed by the developer, I continue to receive concerns from residents about the "claustrophobic" pedestrian pathway to the north of the site.
At my request, the City Council approached the developer about this. Widening the path or moving it is not possible because of the construction footprint, but the developer has agreed to have the boundary fencing painted a light colour - it is presently dark brown and this adds to the claustrophobic feel.
On another matter entirely, the City Council has recently undertaken a trial of expanding plastics recycling. I have received many requests from West End residents to see plastics recycling at more of the recycling centres (it is currently only available at a limited number of sites such as Marchbanks, Riverside & Baldovie).A trial additional "neighbourhood" site was chosen for the trial (at a site in Broughty Ferry - chosen because it had room for additional bins and was a "medium busy site").
The Waste Management Department has advised me that:
"The trial has been successful in that the bins have been relatively well used and also used properly - i.e. not contaminated with other materials.
" ... further assessment is being carried out of our operational capacity for additional collections. A study is planned to establish whether we have the capacity to service additional plastic recycling bins at all our Recycling Points. The results of this study will determine how we proceed. It should also be noted that at many of our Recycling Points there is not enough space for introducing additional containers for plastic bottles."
I have been promised a further update from the City Council once the assessment of collection capacity has been completed, but, meantime, I have made the point that numerous residents in the West End have requested an expansion of plastic recycling availability and it would be good to see this at recycling centres such as at Roseangle and Pennycook Lane.