{"id":111875,"date":"2025-05-18T14:15:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T14:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/111875\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T14:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T14:15:13","slug":"graffiti-in-dalry-community-park-still-not-removed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/111875\/","title":{"rendered":"Graffiti in Dalry Community Park still not removed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The graffiti in Dalry Community Park appeared soon after it opened. Now there is graffiti on the approach path from Russell Road and over the concrete used in the construction of the park.<\/p>\n

We met with Cllr Ross McKenzie (Independent) who says he has been trying to get something done about it, but the graffiti is still there, and has probably been added to over the month since we first wrote about it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is part of a new walking and cycling link from Roseburn to Duff Street which had a \u00a312 million budget, but in the end cost \u00a317 million with the council contributing the extra \u00a35 million. <\/p>\n

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Cllr McKenzie said he is \u201cpleased with many aspects\u201d but continues to call for action on the graffiti \u2013 and most recently on the maintenance of the trees which have been planted in the park. <\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI\u2019m really pleased to have the investment come to the area. It\u2019s not entirely new as a park \u2013 it was previously the Dalry Community Park. It was a train station at one time, but the regeneration of the park is a huge benefit to the area. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow about six months after the opening there are still a lot of outstanding issues that I\u2019ve sought to highlight with the officers. Even prior to opening, the most obvious and glaring issue was that it doesn\u2019t actually connect to the canal, and there\u2019s still quite a lot of awkwardness around the the Dundee street crossing. Between the canal and the Western Approach road will be addressed, probably quite far into the future as part of another project. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo that\u2019s a bit of a frustration, but once you actually get down here into the park, I think what you can see here is a great community asset with perhaps a few snagging issues that we need to get on top of over the next few months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following our articles last month about the graffiti in the park which is really just tags, not any original art, we asked what the council is doing about removing it.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Cllr McKenzie said: \u201cThis is something I have had a lot of emails about, something I\u2019ve brought up with officers. I understand that there will be a free site put into place, and there is discussion about potential for CCTV. Certainly, the way I would prefer, that the council dealt with graffiti, is by increasing the quality of it, and there is funding available, and funding in place, for an art project. I believe that\u2019s been procured by the contractor who have the contract to maintain the landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

This would not mean spaces for people to actually create graffiti, although the councillor agreed that there is also potential for those. But what he means is a project \u201cto provide funding to a group of artists to do a specific piece of work that is informed by community engagement\u201d.<\/p>\n

He agreed that this park and the path leading up to it was almost an open invitation to the so-called graffiti artists. He said: \u201cMore towards the Russell Road end, there\u2019s a lot of big, empty spaces that were just begging to be tagged. And I think my understanding is that those spaces will be prioritised for an art project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the project was late in delivery in many different ways, and perhaps there was a little bit of a rush to get it opened before all these aspects were dealt with. But certainly when I\u2019ve raised it, I\u2019ve been reassured that there is a strategy in place, but we\u2019re just not quite there yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trees<\/p>\n

As we cycled towards the park with Cllr McKenzie we had begun talking about the trees. Although hundreds of trees were felled to make way for the path some 5,000 trees were planted over five years as part of this development. But with the dry weather there is a worry that the trees will die off due to lack of water. <\/p>\n

(The local councillor says 800 trees were felled but the council has said 450 on its website.)<\/p>\n

Cllr McKenzie said: \u201cAround 800 trees were chopped down for this project. That was really controversial, and some of them were in good condition, and a lot of people opposed that. They were reassured that there would be a survival rate of around 40% \u2013 so 2,000 trees out of 5,000 being planted over five years. <\/p>\n

\u201cA number of people have been in touch with me this week to say they\u2019re concerned that there won\u2019t be 40% of those 5,000 alive by the end of the week if they don\u2019t get watered through the unusually dry spell of weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust while we\u2019ve been out volunteers are out trying to water these trees, but obviously there\u2019s so many of them that it\u2019s going to take quite an effort. So I\u2019ve written to the contractor, the project management, and the chief executive, to say that this really needs to be prioritised, and something is being done. <\/p>\n

\u201cI struggle to ask people and say, \u201cCome and water the trees\u201d when your council tax has paid quite substantial sums to people to look after these trees. But there are certainly some community minded people out there who are already doing that. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd there are these little black tubes next to the bigger trees that you can actually pour water just directly in but the problem is really getting water on site. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a community garden down on the Russell Road end and they have been having to bring water on site.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since our talk on Friday Cllr McKenzie has said on social media that watering has been undertaken by the contractor who have a contract to maintain the site.<\/p>\n

\n

Great to see the whole site being watered this morning. I was reassured in conversation with the contractor that the vast majority of the trees are doing well.<\/p>\n

[image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ross McKenzie (@rosssmckenzie.bsky.social<\/a>) 17 May 2025 at 12:01<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"image_pdf\"<\/a>\"image_print\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.<\/p>\n

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