The head of a leading educational charity believes Perth could become Europe’s “greenest small city” in an effort to attract new investment and visitors.
Mike Robinson, chief executive of the city-based Royal Scottish Geographical Society, has weighed into the debate on Perth’s future.
The collapse of department store McEwens in March rattled the business community and triggered calls for change.
Many city centre traders are calling for short-term fixes, including a review of parking and pedestrianized zones.
Mr Robinson agrees that parking needs a shake-up, but argued there are deeper issues which need to be addressed.
“Car parking is a guddle,” he said. “It is inconsistent. scattered and most off-puttingly, largely time limited.
“Is it really so hard to charge parking on exit?”
He added: “However, I don’t really buy the idea that parking is the biggest issue. Allowing people to park right outside a shop or digging up the pedestrian precinct, as has been suggested, is in no way progress.
“Most shops could only fit one or two cars outside them anyway, and maybe if people are struggling to carry shopping to car parks, there should be a collective scheme for making that easier.”
He said that town centres should have a “social role in bring people together” and act as a focal point for vibrant communities.
“Although I have lived in Perth most of my life, I have mostly worked in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Perth, I am continually told in these cities, is a place people drive round. And our big idea seems to be to build an even bigger road for them to drive round quicker.
“We are going to have to work even harder to draw people into the city itself.”
He said: “Perth has one of the best environments of any city, it has copious green space, hills and a river running through it. It is the heart of big tree county, after all.
“It has an agricultural core, but with a major utility company and a forward-thinking insurance giant. It houses offices for a number of land and environmental bodies from SNH to SEPA to environmental link and a host of estate management companies,” he said.
“I believe Perth needs to capitalise on this natural ‘wealth’. We could be the greenest small city in Europe and start to build the local economy around that unique selling point, but we all need to make more effort to buy local products from local shops and support events and activities in the city.”
Mr Robinson added: “Whatever we do to reinvigorate Perth we need to do it with an eye on the future because it needs a vision of Perth we can all rally around if we are going to successfully draw more people into our heart.”
