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Interest in city hall’s fate extends far beyond Perth

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Councillors may be keen to secure a date with the bulldozers for Perth City Hall as soon as it can be arranged, but the furore surrounding its fate refuses to go away.

It seems certain that an appeal to Historic Scotland for permission to demolish the former civic centre is only weeks away.

No date for advertising the council’s intention has yet been set, but 28 days of consultation are expected to begin shortly.

The TaxPayers Alliance, meanwhile, has called for a resolution sooner rather than later no matter the outcome in a bid to limit expenditure on the empty Edwardian building.

Campaigners continue to fight to secure a last-minute reprieve for the city hall and have resumed their attack upon councillors, accusing them of lacking the vision of other Scottish city leaders.

The Save Perth City Hall group highlighted Glasgow’s 1878 Maryhill Burgh Hall which, once forlorn and in a state of disrepair, has been rejuvenated and reused.

A major regeneration of that building, which sits in a largely working-class district some miles from the city centre, has been hailed as a success story.

Taken forward by a community trust, the project has created a stunning home for businesses, culture and social enterprises.

And the Save Perth City Hall group is urging the council to look at such schemes and think again about the future of its own hall.

The building’s fate has also made the pages of satirical magazine Private Eye, whose writers describe the council’s plans as “barbarism”.

The publication notes that councillors remain “determined, gratuitously, to demolish Perth City Hall … in defiance of local and expert opinion”.

It urged Historic Scotland to defend “a fine piece of civic architecture”.

In recent days, The Courier has also received renewed correspondence from the USA, with Idaho resident Kathy Preuit having followed the story from across the Atlantic.

She, like many others opposed to the listed hall’s demolition, does not agree with the claims of some councillors that it has little beauty or architectural value.

Ms Preuit wrote: “Even though I live far from Scotland, I have heard of the plight of the hall from a friend in Perth and have been reading about it.

“It seems that the building is in no way derelict and has had work done over the years to keep it that way.

“It would seem like such a shame to destroy a building that is over 100 years old and that has so much beauty and history,” she went on.

“To quote Ezra Pound ‘A real building is one on which the eye can light and stay lit’, and I think that Perth City Hall is just such a building.

“I hope the council makes the right decision in this matter, as once this building is destroyed, there’s no turning back.”