Safety boosts set for city car parks

Oct 10 2008 by Les Stewart, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

SAFETY work is being carried out to upgrade five Perth car parks to enable them to gain Park Mark status.

It is part of a project which aims to increase the number of Safe Car Parks in the city centre area.

Members of the Perth Common Good Fund Committee were told that around £3,000 is being spent upgrading the car parks at the South Inch, Canal Street, Charles Street, Mill Wynd and West Mill Street.

Committee chairman, Councillor Callum Gillies, said bushes and shrubbery will be cut to make them more safe.

The committee received a request from the Safer Cities Manager seeking financial assistance towards the cost of installing 10 aluminium signs in the five car parks.

“The aim is to upgrade the car parks to the high standard of Park Mark status under the Safer Parking Scheme Initiative,” according to a report by Gavin Stevenson, the council’s executive director (Corporate Services).

“This scheme is an initiative of the Association of Chief Police Officers, managed by the British Parking Association and supported by the Home Office and Scottish Government.

“Perth City Centre Management, in partnership with Tayside Police and Parking Services within the Environment Service of Perth and Kinross Council, are working together to progress this initiative.”

The signs will be situated strategically at the entrance to each car park and within the car parks.

The total cost will be £1816 – and the committee have agreed to make a contribution of £908.

The remaining £908 will be paid out of Perth and Kinross Council’s Economic Development budget.

St Columba’s High School in Perth is to get £1000 towards the cost of a ski-ing instruction trip to Italy next year.

A party of 35 school pupils will spend a week on the slopes next March.

Each of the pupil’s parents was to have contributed £599, a total of £20,965, the full cost of the trip.

The grant from the Common Good Fund will enable the parents’ outlay to be reduced by £28.

It was also agreed to contribute £7500 towards the cost of hiring Perth Concert Hall for a series of six concerts performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

A condition is that the orchestras make available 30 tickets for each concert free of charge to local schools.

The £7500 grant is conditional on a similar contribution being awarded through the council’s financial assistance to the voluntary sector budget.