Council should u-turn before it’s too late

Jul 22 2011 Perthshire Advertiser Friday

Dear Editor, – I have been following the ongoing saga of our City Hall in your newspaper articles and readers’ letters and it is increasingly clear that the majority of Perth citizens are opposed to total demolition.

This lovely building has been allowed to deteriorate over the last few years to justify its demolition. However, contrary to claims by Mr Miller, the leader of Perth council and Mr Bullough “a prominent businessman in the town centre” that support for demolition is universal, this is not the case. How can they make a sweeping statement like that when there is some much opposition and anger about this option in the local press? Surely Mr Miller and our elected councillors cannot ignore this any longer?

Since being made aware of the Perth City Centre Committee’s alternative proposal to retain the facade of the building I believe that most Perth citizens would prefer this option.

The suggestion to locate a much needed and centrally based Tourist Information Office within the retained frontage is a great idea and would be an asset to our new civic square. The rear of the retained section could house a stage and roll-out canopy to cover the square in inclement weather and, of course, this option would provide a much better outlook from the kirk.

We do not have too many lovely listed buildings in Perth and I’m sure that Historic Scotland would prefer to see our council submitting plans for partial retention rather than just razing it to the ground to create a bigger square.

I believe that support for the PCCC’s plan is so high now that it would be undemocratic to “bulldoze”. It would restore faith in our council if they were to do a U-turn before it is too late.

Maureen Summers, Florence Place, Perth.