Hundreds signing up to oppose bridge

Oct 22 2010 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

Dear Editor, – For how much longer are we to endure this dreary, lifeless and monotonous claim that there is public support for the projected Connect2 bridge over the River Tay?

The PA does not help matters with the use of misleading headlines such as “Bridge project has public backing”.

We have taken hundreds and hundreds of signatures for our petition against this project and only a handful of folk have been in favour of it. The vast majority are against the building of the bridge at the planned location.

What information, not in the public domain at the moment, is available to justify the Council’s assertions of support?

If questions of this nature are not answered, and if councillors instead continue to issue banal and conflicting platitudes rather than engaging with all interested parties, then the belief will remain that their assertions are contrived, spurious and fallacious.

For example, only last week one councillor stated that not a penny will be coming out of Council Tax payments as the funding for the bridge was all coming from Sustrans and Tactran.

Now, we have another councillor backtracking somewhat by confirming that the bridge will involve a “joint Tactran/PKC funding contribution.” What are we to believe?

Funding is, of course, crucial.

Apart from the bridge itself, there will be lighting, signage, general cleaning and maintenance, and policing. This does not appear to have been factored into the budget. Would this proceed without the bridge?

There will be public art work for the project. This does not appear to have been factored into the budget. Would this proceed without the bridge?

There will be changes to the golf course. This does not appear to have been factored into the budget. Would this proceed without the bridge?

There will also be a contract, and work of this sort, particularly riverworks, inevitably involves risk and contingencies.

Who picks up the tab if the work turns out to be more expensive either when tenders come in or in the final outcome? This does not appear to have been factored into the budget. Would any of this be incurred without the bridge?

It is the responsibility of those in government to justify their actions and be accountable to their constituents. We now call on PKC to convene a public meeting so that all related issues on the matter may be properly aired.

Jack McLeish,

Chairman,

North Inch Users Group.