Fresh calls for Perth Lade clean up

Jul 6 2010 by Denis Brown, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

THE increasing stink over the state of the dwindling Perth Lade has entered the political arena.

In response to complaints from local residents, Murdo Fraser MSP conducted a media event at the ancient waterway behind Barrack Street.

The Mid Scotland and Fife MSP said since he had joined a campaign to clean up the Lade last September, algae and pollution, not to mention the odd dumped shopping trolley, had returned.

Mr Fraser said local residents wanted to see the Lade and surrounding area cleaned up, and applauded Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) for its efforts to remove litter, but added that more must be done.

“With Perth celebrating Perth 800, it would be a fitting time to have a lasting legacy and restoring the Lade to its former glory,” he said.

As revealed by the PA, PKC has now committed to completing stage one of a temporary repair at Low’s Weir by the end of this month.

The ancient weir at Almondbank has been diverting scant water into the Lade from the River Almond for the past three years, much to the wider community’s chagrin.

At Huntingtower, the community is fed up enduring a nauseating stench from an increasingly shallow and ugly Lade, claiming the problem is exacerbated by residential septic tank run-off into the Lade.

Downstream, the Tulloch Lade Action Group (TLAG) is striving to spruce up the ancient waterway after 90 per cent of 270 households it surveyed said they desperately wanted improvements.

While Huntingtower community members lobbying the council to fix the weir claim they have been “fobbed off” for three years, the council’s position is that it has no statutory duty to maintain the weir.

However, the council recently announced it had just reached agreement with partners SEPA, Scottish Natural Heritage and Tay Salmon Fisheries on an environmentally-friendly, interim weir fix.

The council had stressed that although the initiative was scheduled for this summer, it could be put on hold in the event of other vital work that it did have a statutory duty to carry out.

But following a meeting last week with TLAG members, the council appears to have given a concrete commitment to implement the weir solution this month regardless of other workload pressures.

Mr Fraser said when it was still operational, the weir at Almondbank had flushed the Lade, clearing any accumulation of debris and rubbish, and keeping the stench of stagnant water and algae at bay.

However, Councillor Callum Gillies, who also attended last week’s PKC meeting, warned that people lobbying for a weir fix should be aware that the Lade only flowed if the River Almond was fully flowing.

“Once this work is done though, the Lade should start flowing more steadily,” he said.

“But we’re not looking at a huge increase in water levels.”