A call has been made to reopen a historic Perthshire castle closed to the public for over a year.
Historic Environment Scotland placed restrictions on Elcho Castle in January 2022 following safety fears about unstable masonry at its sites.
This week Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Roz McCall asked the Scottish Government to take "urgent action" to ensure the Perthshire attraction and other Historic Environment Scotland sites reopened to the public soon.
Elcho Castle is one of around 70 Historic Environment Scotland sites which had restrictions placed on it due to safety inspections. The public body cares for over 300 properties and has restored access to at least 40 of the 70 sites involved in its nationwide programme.
This week Conservative MSP Roz McCall raised the issue in the Scottish Parliament. The former Perth and Kinross councillor asked the Scottish Government what action it was taking to accelerate reopening the sites still closed.
Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development Christina McKelvie said: "We are providing Historic Environment Scotland with £72.7 million - a record high level - to help maintain Scotland's heritage and historic environment. This is an 82.6 per cent increase on pre-pandemic funding.
"With their commercial income Historic Environment Scotland's operating budget this year is £114.5 million which is 22.4 per cent higher than pre-pandemic.
"Historic Environment Scotland has completed the first group of inspections in its prioritised inspection programme on schedule and is making progress on the next group of prioritised sites which will be completed by the end of this year.
"They continue to put the health and safety of individuals first, reopening sites only when it's safe to do so."
Ms McCall then asked specifically about Elcho Castle - one of Scotland's best preserved 16th century tower houses. Situated on the banks of the Tay near Bridge of Earn and Perth, it was originally built as a country retreat for the Wemyss family.
Roz McCall MSP said: "Elcho Castle has been enjoyed by families from across Scotland and indeed the world, for generations.”
“The re-opening of Elcho Castle is absolutely vital for the local economy, the tourism generated by Elcho Castle brings major footfall to the local area, and it is crucial that the Scottish Government takes action to accelerate the reopening in time for this summer.
“After a very difficult few years for the economy, the fact that so many fantastic attractions across Mid-Scotland and Fife remain closed is an outrage.
“It is clear that this government does not care about the impact that these closures have on the tourism sector.”
“I am calling on the Scottish Government to take urgent action to ensure that these attractions are open in time for the summer.”
“The last few years have been difficult for local businesses, we must support them in any way possible, and the reopening of Elcho Castle would play a huge part in that.”
When Ms McCall raised the matter in the Scottish Parliament, Christina McKelvie assured her she would look into that particular site and that she understood the "repairs and all the work that's been done are moving on at pace".
A spokesperson for Historic Environment Scotland later told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Elcho Castle has access restrictions in place since January 2022 as a precaution after we identified a potential safety risk to visitors and staff from unstable masonry at a high level at some of our sites.
"The accelerating effects of climate change is one of the key contributors to the issues already identified on a number of sites; this is not an issue which just affects sites in Scotland but we believe we are amongst the first to proactively tackle it.
"We are currently undertaking a prioritised programme of inspections at the affected sites, and are anticipating that the inspection at Elcho Castle will begin next month. At this stage, we are unable to confirm a date for reopening until we have completed the inspection, analysed the results and undertaken any repairs.
"Where possible, we have maintained visitor access, and have fully reopened or increased access at more than 40 sites since our high-level masonry programme began.
"More information on the inspection programme and our progress to date is available on our website: https://www.historicenvironment.scot/inspections"
