Lights plan to ease roundabout hold-ups
A property developer has submitted a planning application for traffic lights at a troublesome Tayside junction after pressure from the community.
Springfield Homes wants to install the lights and widen the Swallow Roundabout in Dundee but part of the junction falls within the boundaries of Perth and Kinross Council.
PKC received a planning application this week.
Planning permission was granted in 2015 for the company to create a new development at Dundee Western Gateway.
This stipulated that works to the Swallow Roundabout had to be done by the time the 270th house was built.
That planning application had expired by the time the 270th house was built and the developers submitted a separate application for the works to the roundabout, which was approved by Dundee City Council in May.
In the design statement sent to planning bosses Springfield Homes said: “Whilst the majority of the land required to deliver the upgrades to the Swallow Roundabout are located within the Dundee City Council area, around one-quarter is located within the Perth and Kinross Council area.
“The planning application is therefore made to ensure that the full extent of works can benefit from planning permission.”
It added: “The works will involve physically enlarging the size of the Swallow Roundabout, increasing the number of lanes in places on the Swallow Roundabout and approach roads and in signalising the Swallow Roundabout.
“The works will also complete the active travel link from the Dykes of Gray Road to and across the Swallow Roundabout to link with existing active travel infrastructure on Riverside Avenue and into Invergowrie.”
Cllr Alasdair Bailey, who represents the Carse of Gowrie, argued the planning application should have come to Perth and Kinross Council from the beginning.
He said: “I called for people in Cllr Alasdair Bailey Invergowrie to be consulted and now that is happening.
“This is already a very busy roundabout and people in Invergowrie have told me that they’re nervous that any changes could increase the number of vehicles rat-running through Invergowrie at rush hour.
“I’m pleased to see that Springfield is agreeable to before-and-after traffic surveys and would fund mitigations in Invergowrie if the problem is made any worse by the changes.
“I’m keen to hear from residents of Invergowrie ahead of forming my own opinion on whether this goes far enough but residents should also put their feelings on paper through the formal planning process too.”