Perth’s disgrace

WE now know what we knew all along was going to happen. Perth and Kinross Council has formally resolved to demolish Perth City Hall.

But does the public realise that the decision to demolish this magnificent, historic, iconic, listed building was taken, at a development committee meeting, by only seven council members out of a total of 41 – barely one-sixth of the whole council?

Democracy? This is an absolute disgrace. The council even has the effrontery to decline to respond to an excellent set of plans submitted by Messrs Simpson and Brown, architects, of Edinburgh, to convert the building to a covered market and food hall, on the grounds that “there is no business plan” – without waiting to see if one was forthcoming. Since when did Perth and Kinross Council ever have a “business plan” for its ludicrous £4.4 million “civic square”?

The fact that it is the council which has sat on its hands and allowed the matter to drag on for the past five years without taking any action is apparently quite immaterial – or was it a deliberate policy to drive people into demanding action?

We must now put our trust in Historic Scotland, to which body the matter has to be referred, as the City Hall is a listed building. Surely that erudite and educated body will never agree to such historic vandalism. But the final decision, of course, lies with Scottish Government ministers and there is no saying how they will respond.

James Cormie

Craiglea Road

Perth