Perth must share in the city spotlight

Aug 19 2011 Perthshire Advertiser Friday

Dear Editor, – As you reported, last week’s excellent ‘Towns’ programme on BBC 2 correctly stated that Perth was “at a crossroads”. However, Nick Crane’s conclusion that Perth was a town and not a city ignored the Scottish context.

Here in Scotland we have at present six cities – Stirling, which is much smaller than Perth, Inverness, which is a little bigger, and Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Dundee.

Councillors and officers from this group of six are already influencing urban policy in Scotland, working with the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI), and liaising with Nicola Sturgeon MSP, the recently appointed Minister for Cities. We need to be one of that group.

For some years VisitScotland has been running tourist promotions, focussing on conference and corporate markets, and targeting “Scotland’s Six Cities”.

Other Scottish, UK and international organisations also focus their attention on the six “official” cities.

We need to grab that attention for Perth.

In planning matters, Perth needs to raise its profile as one of the two major players, with Dundee, in ‘TayPlan’, the Strategic Development Plan, covering Tayside and North Fife. Our influence in this area will be greatly enhanced if we are a member of a “Seven Cities” organisation.

These are the modern practical reasons that drive the Council’s ambition for city status. They complement Perth’s historical, cultural, commercial and geographical qualifications for an important role in influencing Scotland’s development.

I would urge those who agree with these aims to pledge their support online by logging on to www.pkc.gov.uk/citystatus

We already have support from all over Scotland, from England and overseas. However, we also need large numbers of Perth people to demonstrate electronically, what Nick Crane showed so conclusively on TV, that city status has very widespread local support.

Dr John Hulbert,

Provost of Perth and Kinross.