Hi all – and welcome to the February 2021 DCF newsletter!
It’s a short one this month, and the theme seems to be drive-throughs, which we have seen a rash of applications and approvals for. It looks like businesses may be capitalising on the fact that people (understandably) feel safe from Covid inside the private bubble of their cars; however, we need to build back better, and building our cities around cars is absolutely not the way to do this.
If you feel the same, please object to the planning applications below. Making our collective voice heard is really important, so please do take action if you are able!
Planning
Drive-throughs at Riverside
The planning application for two drive-throughs at Riverside Avenue (20/00031/FULL) was this month approved at appeal by the Local Review Body, who overturned Planning’s original decision to reject the application. You can view a notice of their decision here.
This was, in our view, a short-sighted decision which saw the application being approved at all costs because of job creation. In making their decision, the LRB stated – with no evidence – that the drive throughs would not affect the city or district centres and that most journeys there would have been happening anyway. This is completely counter to the evidence that does exist and the fact development of these drive throughs will only swerve to create a more car-centric, unsustainable city. Far more jobs will be created the more attractive a city we make Dundee, and drive-throughs will achieve the opposite of this.
DCC has a planning policy called “Town Centre First”, which should in principle stop all out-of-town developments by ensuring developers consider district and city centre locations first. However, they do still appear to slip through the cracks – we are therefore campaigning DCC to update policy documents to explicitly ban drive throughs.
Planning deputation
The DCF spoke at a deputation to the planning committee this month regarding Tim Horton’s relentless mission to bring yet another drive-through to Dundee – in fact they have a stated aim to bring a drive-through restaurant to every town in Scotland!
Despite having an application rejected by the committee in November, they had decided to apply again under planning application 20/00796/APCONL. We were very pleased to see that this second application was soundly rejected by the committee with a far better margin than in November, at 12 votes to 6.
The application that was rejected in November, however, was appealed to the Scottish Government – it’s not over yet…
Planning objections
There’s three applications we objected to this month – and two of them are drive-throughs! You can view the full application documents by going to http://idoxwam.dundeecity.gov.uk/idoxpa-web/ and searching for the reference numbers.
If you’d like to help, see below for our objections which you can download, add your name and address to, and email to planning.info@dundeecity.gov.uk to register your objection(s).
21/00079/FULL, for the Erection of restaurant with drive-thru lane (Sui Generis) with associated parking and other ancillary works at Land In Car Park Of 61 Myrekirk Road Dundee – this is for yet another drive through on the Kingsway, encouraging more unnecessary car journeys and ripping the heart out of the city and district centres.
21/00057/FULL, for the change of use from vacant ground to hot food takeaway/drive-thru with associated car parking at Land To East Of Fulton Road And West Of Myrekirk Road, Dundee. – this is to add a drive-through lane to an already approved (but not yet built) Clark’s takeaway. As above, more drive-throughs will simply encourage more driving and reduce the vitality of city and district centres.
21/00084/FULL, for the demolition of existing building and erection of 54 bed care home with associated open space, infrastructure and car parking, at 8 Dalhousie Road, Broughty Ferry, Dundee DD5 2SQ. – This is a simple objection asking that better/more cycle parking is provided for staff/visitors, and less car parking.
Cycling UK campaign
Cycling UK are running a petition to show the support that exists for improved cycling infrastructure in Scotland. They’re asking for the next Scottish Government to:
Invest more money in cycling,
Create safe space for people to cycle, walk and wheel,
Enable people in rural communities to cycle.
It’s absolutely essential that our voice is heard before the elections, so please do sign their petition here.
Thanks!
That’s all for now – thanks for reading! The Slack channel is the best place to stay up-to date on all things DCF – email Steve (steve@biggreybox.net) if you haven’t got access yet.
Until next month,
Russell P.
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