By Mark Mackay

PERTH AND Kinross Council has been forced to launch a legal bid to recoup nearly £100,000 of tax payer’s cash spent on making a prominent Perth building safe.

The local authority has been left out of pocket after an appeal to the owners of St Paul’s Church went unanswered.

New plans for the crumbling B-listed eyesore are now in the pipeline, with drinks giant JD Wetherspoon having submitted a planning application to convert the site into a licensed premises.

But faced with the building becoming a danger to the public and with silence from owners St Paul’s Preservation Company (a subsidiary of AOC Architects), the decision was taken to undertake critical temporary repairs.

A work programme was undertaken to make the building safe and both wind and watertight, under the supervision of Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust.

However, the council has stressed the work carried out is only of a temporary nature, designed to make the building safe for a year or so.

The condition of the 200-year-old city centre church has deteriorated rapidly since it was last used for worship in 1986 and it is now in need of substantial repair, not withstanding that already carried out.

And in 2006 it appeared on a list of 44 buildings at risk, compiled by the Scottish Civic Trust.

A variety of plans for St Paul’s future use have been put forward over the past 10 years.

They have included proposals for a cinema and a bar-restaurant complex, an archaeological interpretation centre and speciality food retail in association with the Perth farmers’ market.

There have also been a number of ill-fated plans for offices and also housing.

However, with none of these proposals coming close to fruition, the 1807 gothic-styled church has continued to moulder in the face of attack from the weather.

Now there is new hope in the form of the planning bid JD Wetherspoon, with Perth and Kinross Council welcoming the application.

Wetherspoons already own the Capital Asset pub in Tay Street.

A spokesman for Perth and Kinross Council said, “We have completed urgent works on the building and are seeking to recover the costs of £96,000 from the building’s owner.

“There is currently a live planning application lodged with us for conversion of the building into a licensed premises.”