Ambitious £3.7 million plans for a park-and-ride project in Dundee’s west end could become a big “white elephant”, a community council chairman has warned.
Dundee City Council and transport partnership Tactran submitted plans in June for the 400-space facility on land to the west of Wright Avenue, near Riverside Business Park.
They said the park-and-ride would help cut congestion in the city and improve air quality by offering a car-free integrated network of transport links to key locations.
However, Friends of Riverside Nature Park have several worries about the plans. And Andrew McBride, chairman of West End Community Council, says he is worried the whole venture could end up not being used.
The scheme will be considered by the council’s development management committee on October 21.
It is one of four schemes being proposed for Dundee’s outskirts, the others being on the Fife side of the Tay Road Bridge, in the east off the A92 and in the north off the A90.
The west end and road bridge schemes are to be considered first, with a view to being opened by 2015. West End Community Council has not objected to the park-and-ride but Mr McBride has some personal worries.
“Do we need it? That’s one of the major concerns,” he said.
“They assure us that we do. I don’t know that I’m totally convinced. The location itself is not ideal in that it’s next to the nature park.
“Nobody travelling from the east of the city is going to want to use it. Those coming from the west, once they’ve hit the park-and-ride, within two or three minutes by car they can be in the town.
“I’m hoping it’s not going to be a big white elephant.”
Ian Ford, the friends group’s chairman, added: “The proposed park-and-ride takes up quite a lot of ground area. They’re saying it would only be 6% of the open space.
“In fact, a lot of the open space is for grazing and not publicly accessible anyway. It’s actually in the order of 15-20% of public space.
“We felt the decision should be made on financial grounds rather than traffic pressure reduction and felt there were better alternatives. If the proposal does go ahead, we want green buses.”
It is understood a petition against the scheme signed by several hundred people will also be submitted at the meeting and the friends group is also due to speak.