Perth council chiefs backtracked on ambitious plans to install temporary cycle lanes on key routes in the city, it has emerged.
Cycling organisation Sustrans allocated more than £1 million to the local authority as part of the £30m Spaces for People programme.
The Spaces for People scheme aimed to make walking, cycling and wheeling easier during the pandemic.
PKC drew up plans for cycle lanes in Balhousie, the High Street, Tay Street, Atholl Street, Edinburgh and Glasgow Road.
Glasgow Road is the main link between the Park and Ride close to the Broxden roundabout and the city centre.
Council chiefs scrapped some temporary cycle lanes projects before they could be evaluated. They never started others.
The local authority spent the money on pedestrian crossings, 20mph zones and traffic-free areas around schools instead.
Temporary cycle lanes proved controversial across Scotland.
Some proved popular, including changes to Union Street in Dundee.
But others provoked stiff opposition from some local business owners; for example, in St Andrews.
Did PKC chiefs waste cycle funding opportunity?
Perth cyclist Roger Humphry is Cycling UK ambassador for Perth and Kinross.
He said Perth and Kinross officials worked hard to develop the proposals but councillors “seemed to lack the will” to deliver them.
He said: “We have a stretched group of excellent officials who understand well the sorts of projects needed to help make life safer for our healthier and more efficient travel options.
“These officials worked their derrieres off to put in a very good, ambitious and successful bid with councillor support.
“However, when it came to implementation the councillors seemed to lack the will.”
Roger is standing for the Scottish Green Party in the forthcoming council elections.
“Councillors were sometimes pressurised by pop-up campaigns and called them ‘consultation’ as justification.
“Some of what is needed for Perth to become safer, cleaner and easier to move around is money for active travel, but mostly it needs more political will to match the available funding.”
Why is cycle funding in Perth under the microscope?
The local authority’s commitment to active travel is under scrutiny since it emerged funding for a separate project on Dunkeld Road has been downgraded from a guaranteed £6.5m to around £420,000.
Sustrans officials made the decision after close discussions with their PKC counterparts.
The decision reflected a change in the way the body allocates Scottish Government funding after the pandemic as well as a “lack of significant progress” in the Perth project since it first won the £6.5m funding.
A spokesman stressed Sustrans is still working with PKC on future funding bids.
What did Perth and Kinross residents get for £1m active travel funding?
A Perth & Kinross Council spokesman said Spaces for People funding delivered two toucan crossings, among many other “interventions”, “saving the council a significant amount of future years’ capital budgets”.
He said PKC delivered more than 70 20mph speed limits, more than 40 40mph speed limits and six new 30mph speed limits.
The council created parking-free areas around eight schools, changed more than 500 pedestrian crossings to automatic detection and installed 40 contactless push button crossings.
“While some temporary measures were introduced and subsequently removed as restrictions were eased, the exercise has been extremely worthwhile.”
He said some cycle lane proposals “did not proceed following consultation with residents” while other plans “did not meet Spaces for People criteria” or “would have had a negative impact on traffic movement”.
“Such adjustments to the programme reflect our commitment to fully assess the needs and impacts of proposals and indeed consider the views of businesses and communities. “
A Sustrans spokesman highlighted the projects councillors did implement.
“Some of these initiatives have been so successful that Perth will look to make these permanent,” he added.
