The ‘biggest disaster’ to hit the Fair City for centuries

Jul 24 2009 by Our Correspondent, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

Dear Editor, – Yesterday, Perth’s Development Control Committee granted permission to Perth College to erect 110 dwellings with associated access, car parking and landscaping on their site on the Crieff Road despite a valiant effort, which has lasted over a period in excess of four years, by concerned objectors.

This is a disaster for the Perth people of Appin Terrace and all the Letham district which borders the Perth College. Residents are already badly affected with severe traffic problems – particularly people who cannot get into their own driveways, especially when major events take place at McDiarmid Park. It is a disaster for parents who already have difficulty pushing pushchairs between parked vehicles on their way to the three schools in this area.

This is a disaster for any of the Perth residents and indeed anyone, including tourists, who will have to use the already severely congested Crieff Road. Traffic problems will be exacerbated beyond belief and be queued all the way through the city and out into Bridgend. We know this because it is already happening and this before the development is completed.

This is a disaster for the Perth people who live in the pensioners’ cottages in Tulloch which borders on to the Crieff Road. Instead of being able to enjoy their gardens they will have towering flats blocking their views. Is this how we treat our Perth citizens who have worked all their lives in this city and have contributed to its well being?

This is a disaster for all the people who live in the cottages beyond 128 Crieff Road and not just because they can’t get out of their driveways for continuing traffic but because they will have no privacy in their gardens because of towering flats, windows of which look directly into them. What way is this to treat innocent people who have done no harm?

This is a disaster for the residents of Feus Road, who only two weeks ago had their gardens flooded, not just with flood water but with raw sewage floating because the sewage drains we already have cannot cope with the volume. They can now look forward to further flooding and not just because of the extra sewage from this development but from the damage to the substructure of the land when the retaining wall and roots of trees are removed! What a horrendous way to treat the citizens of this area.

This is a personal disaster for Councillor John Flynn and colleagues because all this relates to their own constituency and their own constituents, who will be constantly, constantly knocking on their doors or constantly haranguing them with phone calls. But the worst disaster is that they will be unable to help.

And who are the perpetrators and the people responsible for this disaster? Perth College. And, do they care about the citizens of Perth? I would suggest not. All they are interested in is making money; they are not interested in people they are just interested in doing their utmost to upgrade the Perth College to university standard; a university not built for the ordinary citizens of Perth who already have a wonderful choice of universities in Dundee, Stirling, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and etc. Perth College if it achieves university status hopes to encourage thousands of foreign students to its campus, students who may remain in this country after their degrees are achieved but who more than likely will return to their lands to help their own people and their own economy. This is very laudable but it doesn’t do a thing to help Perth.

Name and address supplied.