More Vandalism in The Ferry

Outside Greggs on Brook Street, one of the bike racks fixed to the pavement is damaged and appears to have been deliberately vandalised. As you can see it is bent over and unusable. On closer inspection, one end of the stainless steel rail has been severed at ground level by what appears to have be repeated bending over and back until the metal snapped.

Unfortunately, this is another example of deliberate and sickening property damage. This not only undermines the appearance of our main street but also diverts cash from vital Council services to pay for needless repairs and replacements.
I have informed the Transportation Department and Roads' Maintenance Partnership to ask that the broken rack is removed immediately and subsequently replaced. I have also informed Tayside Division, Police Scotland. As this happened in direct line of sight from the CCTV camera, I hope the perpetrators will be easily identified and apprehended.
This deliberate damage of public property follows a spate of spray painting of unsightly graffiti tags in numerous locations in Barnhill including garage doors which happened on Thursday night and through to the small hours of Friday morning.

Forthill Residents Want Ugly Container to be Removed From Their Open Space

On Saturday morning, two residents from dispersed sheltered housing in Anton Drive and Nursery Road asked me to request the removal of a steel container. This had apparently been left by the Council contractor that had been working on the kitchen and bathroom replacements in their houses.

Now that the upgrading work has been completed, the residents want to know why they should have to put up with this ugly steel container cluttering the open plan grassed area close to their homes. They also point out that the container has become a target for graffiti.

I have joined the residents in calling 'times up' on the container. I have passed on their request to the Housing Department and informed the Community Wardens about the graffiti.

Ferry Juvenile Crime Wave Summit on Wednesday 7 December

Tag on a BT Box in Strathmore Avenue

Tayside Police, Tayside Fire and Rescue, Dundee Community Wardens as well as Ferry Councillors, have all recently received numerous complaints from members of the public about graffiti, vandalism, fire setting and littering by young people in the Ferry. The unusual intensity of these incidents has led to the Team Leader of the Community Safety Wardens to convene an inter-agency "Summit" on Wednesday 7 December at Blackness Fire Station.


There seem to be a gang of young people who are regularly out on our streets defacing public and private property with spray paint. The repetitive appearance of their 'signature' painted tags suggest that many of the acts of vandalism have been perpetrated by a small number of young people. There has also been a number of deliberately started fires and many examples of inconsiderate behaviours such as deliberately littering the streets and damaging public property such as street signs. 


For the folk on the receiving end of this juvenile delinquency, this has been a very tiresome time. For Council clean up squads, it is also a discouraging picture because as fast as they remove or paint over graffiti, the tags appear again like a virus. There are clearly questions about a lack of parental supervision when it is alleged that some of the vandals are surprisingly young.


I hope the agencies at the meeting on Wednesday afternoon are able to plan and then coordinate effective and lasting responses against the perpetrators.