Park and ride for city still on cards

That’s despite previous opposition to such plans in the city.

A proposed new local development plan details a series of policies that will inform planning decisions in the city up to 2029.

The plan, which will be opened up to the public for comments if approved by councillors tonight, says “park and choose” facilities on land to the north, east, south and west of Dundee will still be supported in the years ahead.

The document claims that having such facilities installed would enable “reducing vehicle numbers; easing congestion; reducing air pollutants and traffic noise; avoiding the use of valuable city centre land for car parking and supporting more reliable travel journey times”.

It calls for the development of such facilities to be supported, and even though no sites have yet been identified in Dundee itself for park and choose, it says a “detailed feasibility business case and design work” is being progressed by transport authorities.

It’s hoped that Transport Scotland and regional transport partnerships will bring forward plans for the facilities, and could be funded as part of a £1.8 billion Tay Cities Deal — which will provide investment for a host of projects across the Tayside and north-east Fife area.

Proposals for such projects may come forward as early as 2019, though some could be developed in later years.

Plans for a park and ride facility on the southern side of the Tay Road Bridge are also in the pipeline, and are being progressed in Fife.

A site adjacent to the bridge roundabout on the Fife side has been identified for the development. In 2013, a plan to install a £3.7m park and ride — letting users get on a bus between a site close to Riverside Nature Park and the city centre — was rejected by councillors at a meeting, going against the advice of planning officials.

It was hoped that the facility would have offered parking for the adjacent nature park, overspill for Ninewells Hospital, additional airport parking and parking for a relocated Invergowrie railway station.

However, councillors were not convinced that the 400-space parking lot would help to take hundreds of cars off the road, and there were fears that the habitat of wildlife would be lost by the development.

There were also concerns about the ongoing cost to the public of running such a facility, particularly if it wasn’t well used.

Subsidies of £25,000 a year would have been needed to keep it running.

Dave Bowes was the only councillor on the committee to back the proposals, saying he felt it would help the city develop.

PROPOSALS to bring a number of park and ride facilities to Dundee remain on the cards, according to a new report.

ARTISTS from the Open Close pro- ject in Dundee visited City Square for the farmers’ market. Visitors were able to purchase the artists’ work, as well as buy maps of the Open Close trail around Dundee, which has resulted in doorways around the city...

Looking across the Tay Road Bride from Fife.