Sainsbury's plan for Perth given nod by Chamber of Commerce

Sep 11 2009 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

SUPERMARKET giant Sainsbury’s plans to create a presence in Perth generating more than 500 jobs has received a cautious welcome from the Perthshire Chamber of Commerce.

But the business organisation has also expressed concerns for the future health of the city centre if large-scale development proposals roll out on the western edge.

And with the Crieff Road already a notorious bottleneck, the roads infrastructure would have to be tackled.

Tuesday’s revelation that Sainsbury’s want to transform the former Perth auction mart into a “flagship” store would provide shoppers with another option in so-called “Tesco town”, with three Tesco stores operating within the Fair City.

But it forms part of a larger development blueprint for a site owned by Glasgow-based property developers Elphinstone.

Concerns have already been expressed by the local authority over potential gridlock on the Crieff Road, even before any development takes place on the other side of the by-pass.

Vicki Unite, chief executive of the Chamber, commented: “We are always delighted to hear of companies wishing to locate to this area, particularly a new name that isn’t already represented, and offering such a potentially high number of jobs with the possibility of them choosing to use using local producers where possible.”

But she added: “We would have concerns that a new development was at the detriment of retail within the city centre.

“In this case, the biggest challenge to be overcome will be the traffic infrastructure in that particular area.”

Elphinstone want to see a supermarket, hotel, filling station, specialised housing, hot food outlets, cinema, gym and other leisure facilities developed on their site.

And the Muir Group and Stewart Milne Homes have flagged-up ambitious proposals for more than 3000 homes for farmland to the west of Perth in their “Western Arc” project.