As talks over the future of Perth city centre rumble on, there has been no more divisive an issue than the pedestrianisation of St John Street.
The stretch was closed to traffic in 2004, just five years after cars were removed from the neighbouring High Street.
Perth and Kinross Council said the move would attract more shoppers to the area and create a buzz.
But there was much resistance to the proposal, not least from councillor Ian Miller.
Now leader of the local authority, Mr Miller said he has changed his mind about the pedestrian zone. At a meeting of businesses this week, he was jeered for suggesting it would be too difficult to remove infrastructure and allow vehicles back in.
Jeweller Tim Hardie also campaigned against pedestrianisation and remains a staunch opponent.
“I have been on St John Street for 34 years,” he said. “I was one of the first people to raise a petition to stop the pedestrianisation. It found that 92% of us were against it. I took the petition to the council and they wrote back to me, saying: Thanks, but we know better than you.
“Two years after that we noticed that trade had declined incredibly.”
He has called for parking to be reinstated outside City Hall.
Businesswoman Paula Tabourel, who owns the Pig Halle restaurant, said: “Cars bring life to a town. Certain parts of London have reversed pedestrianisation because they know that if you take away cars, the city will die.”
Fashion designer Kairen Ruse, who owns the Blues and Browns store, added: “We’re told all the time about enhanced footfall in Perth, but when you look along St John Street it is nearly always dead.”
The council’s depute chief executive Jim Valentine disputed suggestions there was widespread opposition to the St John Street plan.
He said: “When pedestrianisation went in, there was 88% per cent support despite what some retailers might say.
“I can see where the traders are coming from. They want people to be able to brake to a halt outside and run into their shop, but the reality is that if you’ve got young kids or carrying big bags of shopping, then you don’t want to be competing with traffic.”
“In places where traffic still goes through busy streets, I think it is a definite disadvantage. The removal of pedestrianisation just wouldn’t work. If you look at the fact that we do have air quality problems, the idea of putting more traffic into these streets is really a non-starter.”
