Perth and Kinross councillors have voted to close Perth Harbour as a commercial port.
However, council leader Grant Laing asked council officers to test the market for a “viable and serious offer” to lease the harbour but not to sell it.
A Conservative amendment to keep the port open was outvoted by 22 votes to 14 with two abstentions.
Councillors met on Wednesday, February 8 to decide the fate of the Fair City’s Harbour, which has fallen into rapid decline.
Renowned Perthshire butcher Simon Howie, who co-owns Calport Ltd with his son Ross, said that despite his storage business being based there he was not informed about the outcome of PKC’s review of the harbour.
Addressing councillors on Wednesday, Simon Howie said: “We were very surprised last Friday when we read in the newspapers that there was a motion to close Perth Harbour and that would be brought up at today’s meeting.
“There are a number of people who pay their mortgages and feed their children from the income they receive working on the port and just closing it seems disproportionate.”
Calport employs five people directly and 12 in total through sub-contractors.
A comprehensive review of the harbour – requested by councillors –recommended closure as a commercial port and suggested exploring other options such as recreational use.
In 2022/23 five vessels have so far landed goods at Perth compared with the 80 needed to match PKC’s business plan target and the 120 needed to break even. There have not been 120 vessels since 2010.
The current financial deficit is projected to be around £300,000.
Mr Howie told councillors the port was “viable” and quashed the notion of leisure use as “fanciful”. He argued if the harbour was under “dynamic ownership” and “properly managed, dredged and ready to go” it would transform things.
He said: “Don’t close the harbour until you know someone isn’t going to buy it. If there are no serious buyers for it then that becomes Hobson’s choice and we understand that.
“The idea you could do something like develop a marina or some leisure use I think is fanciful.”
The businessman said money needed to be invested in the harbour in order to attract business. Perth is a tidal port and Mr Howie told councillors it had “reasonable water one to two weeks a month maximum” but dredging could increase usage.
He said: “We’ve got to get this into someone’s hands who’s going to invest in it. And when the water availability is there that’s the point when you knock on someone’s door seriously. There has to be an investment made first. The idea of saying: ‘You commit to coming to Perth and bring your goods here and we’ll dredge the river’, that’s not a realistic way to bring business.
“You’re going to have to spend the money – open the shop, put the lights on, the goods on the shelves and people will come in. That’s what’s needed. And yes, I think they’ll come.”
He told councillors Calport wrote to Perth Harbour Board last year offering to consider dredging the Tay.
Mr Howie, pictured, said: “It’s a win-win for us – the more ships that come up, the more products we can put through our buildings and keep our men busy. It was offered and no response was given to that.”
Calport also offered to buy the harbour some years ago but it was rejected. PKC’s head of Planning and Development David Littlejohn told councillors the offer “did not include assuming the fully legal liability for the harbour”.
Councillors were told there was around 20,000 square metres of business space on the harbour with Calport controlling about 12,000 square metres.
Mr Howie said: “There would have to be a discussion with the council around the fact that a bunch of these businesses – ours included – pay rates on the basis we have harbour-related use. We have spent a large six-figure sum of money on re-roofing and dealing with floors and walls in our buildings to deal with big, bulky goods coming in.”
The council’s head of planning and development David Littlejohn said: “The review concludes costs will continue to increase and income will remain volatile to the extent the operating deficit is unlikely to be reduced to any significant extent without a seemingly unfeasible increase in the vessel movements.”
PKC’s chief executive Thomas Glen reminded councillors of the context in which the recommendation was being made – not least the projected £31 million funding gap in PKC’s revenue budget that needs plugged to achieve a balanced budget.
The council chief added: “I’m very clear if there’s an option that continues to incur the level of deficit the harbour presents to us then that would be something we would need to reflect in the budget next year. And it would have a financial implication which could affect the council’s services and the council’s workforce.”
SNP council leader Grant Laing moved to close the harbour as a commercial port. He said: “I voted to keep it open last time six or seven years ago. Nothing has improved.” Cllr Laing said he would support a “viable and serious offer” to lease the harbour but not to sell it.
This was seconded by Perth City North SNP councillor John Rebbeck and supported by 22 votes.
There were 14 votes for an amendment tabled by Conservative councillors Chris Ahern and Frank Smith to keep the harbour open.
SNP councillors Sheila McCole and Ian Massie, who sit on Perth Harbour Board alongside four other councillors, abstained.
