The dream of providing Dundee with a park and ride facility to ease traffic and rid the city of its air pollution problems is close to becoming a reality.
Regional transport partnership SEStrans has told The Courier it hopes to have funding in place to purchase land by the end of the financial year.
A funding package for the creation of the South Tay Park and Ride, on the Fife side of the Tay Road Bridge, is also being thrashed out.
Councillor Fraser Macpherson, who represents Dundee’s West End ward, is among those who believe the scheme is vital to the city’s air quality.
Last week, it emerged that Dundee had called in industry experts in an effort to clean up some dangerously polluted streets.
Mr Macpherson said: “Given the number of vehicles that come into Dundee from the north of Fife, I think the South Tay plan is a very good idea.
“As long as there are good public transport links then I think it could prove popular and could make a big difference to air quality in the city centre. It is certainly good to see some progress with this project.”
SEStrans has long believed the South Tay Park and Ride plan is a sensible one as the city’s rising employment and growing peripheral population more than 300,000 people live within a 30- minute drive of the city centre require increased transport investment.
They hope the plan will prove a boon to commuters and, importantly, control the high level of car use and the congestion problems this generates in Dundee.
Jim Grieve, SEStrans programme manager, told The Courier: “The project is very much on the cards, but the problem as with so many things is funding.
“SEStrans hopes to acquire the necessary funding to purchase the land by the end of the financial year.
“It will then be jointly funded, though the lion’s share of the money will have to come from Transport Scotland.
“The remainder will come from SEStrans, Fife and Dundee councils.”
Mr Grieve said SEStrans and its partners remain in discussions over the funding package.
Residents hope to see Dundee replicate the facilities enjoyed in other cities such as Edinburgh and Perth.Previous western edge plans thrown outIn 2013 city councillors almostunanimously threw out plans to create a park and ride on Dundee’s western edge.
The 400-parking space site was intended for Wright Avenue, but the proposals were panned by residents and described as an ecological disaster by the Friends of Riverside Nature Park.
In the end, not a single councillor was persuaded to back convener David Bowes in moving to support the recommendation of city development director Mike Galloway that it go ahead.
Councillor Macpherson was one of the most prominent speakers against the proposal.
He said: “The plan was an appalling idea but the opposition from councillors at the time did not mean that we were against the principle of a park and ride for Dundee far from it.”