Business owners based in Perth ’s Tay Street have spoken of the sleepless nights they have experienced worrying how plans to dig the street up for sewer works might impact on trade.
Graeme Pallister of restaurant 63 Tay Street and Cameron Grassick of Robert Cameron Hair, told the PA this week they received the “bombshell” news that Scottish Water was preparing to seal off parts of the street and dig it up for the best part of a year just over seven weeks ago.
The pair say they cannot understand why no-one from Scottish Water or Perth and Kinross Council thought to give them any further advance warning of the project given the likely impact partial closures of the street and the actual sewer works is bound to have on their businesses.
Both men fear their customers will be put off by the disruption, valued parking spaces right outside their business will be lost during road closures and any resulting dip in trade over the time it takes Scottish Water to finish the works will force them to close up for good.
Graeme and Robert have both filed formal objections to Scottish Water’s application for planning permission to carry out the works being approved by PKC but it was unclear yesterday whether the application will be determined by officers under delegated powers or by a council committee.
“The thing that hacks me off is throughout this entire process there hasn’t been one representative from PKC that has come forward to speak to businesses,” said Cameron.
“We’ve had two-and-a-half years of Covid, we’ve had seven months of lockdown, we’ve had to restart our businesses twice over that time, we’re now in a cost-of-living crisis where the cost of our supplies is going through the roof and now this.
“We’re not unreasonable people and we know that works need to take place but there has been no voices representing businesses in this whatsoever.”
Graeme added: “I think their assumption is that people will be able to get access throughout. But this is going to effect the ambience of my restaurant.
“We had to close for two days when there was one digger out on the street. What’s the point in coming in here when the windows are rattling? We just can’t operate around that kind of noise.”
Summing up his torment over the planned works on top of the stress caused by Covid and other factors over the last two-and-a-half years, Graeme said: “I feel like I’m already on my knees and now I’m about to be decapitated.”
The PA asked PKC if it had any prior knowledge Scottish Water intended to file a planning application seeking to dig up Tay Street but it failed to answer that question in its response to our request for comment.
A spokesperson would only say: “A planning application was submitted to the council by Scottish Water in August for the installation of a trunk sewer and associated works on Tay Street.
“Details of the proposed works including the site location as well as neighbour notifications are available to view on our public access planning portal.
“The period for public comment on the application closes this Friday and some comments have already been received.
“Should the application ultimately be approved, Scottish Water will be required to put in place appropriate signage and traffic management arrangements for both pedestrians and vehicles during the works.”
A spokesperson for Scottish Water said there had been some “engagement” with the council about the planned work but did not specify if this took place before or after the planning application was filed.
The spokesperson said: “The significant upgrade to the sewer network that we are preparing to carry out at Tay Street and Shore Road is vital to enable us to support Perth’s growing community while addressing a number of areas of high flood risk in the sewer network upstream.
“We recognise that the impact on the road network is disruptive – and particularly so to businesses and residents in the immediate vicinity on Tay Street.
“There has been engagement with the council about this work in outline but the process of finalising detailed arrangements and seeking approval for these is ongoing.
“Scottish Water is responsible for communicating with businesses about the work that we need to carry out – and we hope to meet them in the near future to discuss this further following the original contact which was made last month.
“Our aim is to work with the businesses to mitigate the impact of the period of construction activity on them as far as we can.
“We will share detailed information on traffic management arrangements as soon as proposals have been discussed in more detail with local stakeholders and agreed with the roads authority.”
