Traffic and noise concerns about Sainsbury’s plan

Mar 5 2010 Perthshire Advertiser Friday

DISGRUNTLED residents yesterday claimed they have been kept out the loop over proposals for a mega-supermarket complex in Perth.

Sheena Hampton, whose East Huntingtower home is directly opposite the former United Auctions mart site of the planned Sainsbury’s store and petrol station, said she and her neighbours felt “helpless”.

“What really aggrieves me is that there was a consultation meeting in November about the proposal and immediate neighbours were not specifically invited,” she said yesterday.

“They said that we got leaflets through our doors, which we didn't, and that they’d advertised in the PA.”

Mrs Hampton said she and six neighbours had lodged objections with Perth and Kinross Council, with their main concerns being potential impact on traffic flow and increased noise.

“We’re all very concerned that vehicular access to Sainsbury’s will be off Crieff Road, and not via a slip road off the A9,” she declared.

“Our road is already jam-packed, especially at peak times or when any major event like football is on.

“We’re categorically opposed to it but we’re up against a Goliath and apart from objecting, we feel helpless.”

She said locals were not reassured by Sainsbury’s claim that concerns about potential congestion on the A85 had been addressed.

“If they widen the road, we’d like to know where the land’s coming from – is there going to be compulsory purchasing of our land?” she asked.

“We also believe a petrol station opposite our homes will diminish property value but the council planning office said property value doesn’t come into the equation.

“I find it ironic that when we built our house 10 years ago we had terrible trouble with the planning department who told us our house wasn’t in keeping with the area.”

Tailbacks

Neighbour Morag Kennedy’s objection, one of four so far posted on PKC’s website, states that traffic already queues outside her home at peak times.

West Huntingtower’s Janet Carratt stated: “My principal objection is that the A85 is incapable of absorbing the volume of traffic that such a development would generate.”

She said new residential developments in Almondbank, Balgowan, Methven and Crieff had exacerbated existing A85 tailbacks during peak periods.

Mrs Carratt also queried whether Perth needed another supermarket or petrol station, given the nearby 24-hour Tesco and petrol station and the Jet station, just past Huntingtower.

Crieff resident Diane Guntley stated that traffic was “already horrendous” and the road layout was badly planned with three roundabouts and badly sequenced traffic lights, with two petrol stations within a two-minute drive.

“Too many supermarkets in the town, do we really need another one?” she wrote.

As part of a consultative process last year, Sainsbury’s conducted a public opinion survey, declaring the results were mainly positive, with over 85 per cent of respondents supporting the Perth venture.

A separate application for a retail park on another part of the UA site is presently before the Scottish Government.

A council spokesman said PKC had been unable to consider plans due to lack of details.

l The PKC planners’ deadline for comments on the Sainsbury’s plan is Friday, March 26.