Politicians have been urged to set aside their differences and work towards a brighter future for Perth.
City centre councillor Archie MacLellan won backing for his idea of a cross-party progress group at council talks last week.
The local Labour group leader said the city centre should not be used as a “political football”.
He said: “The closure of McEwens was undoubtedly a major blow, but not a fatal one.
“There are other businesses within the city centre which continue to thrive and some of the proposals which are coming forward are designed to help them.”
He said: “I repeat my appeal for councillors to put their political differences aside and work towards the future of our city, a city that I still consider to be a wonderful place to live and work and I do genuinely believe that if we do work together, in conjunction with the business community, that Perth does have a bright future and can be a major shopping and entertainment centre.”
City councillor Peter Barrett said McEwen’s closure should be an “alarm call” for the local authority. “There needs to be a far greater urgency demonstrated by the council in tackling persistent city centre bug-bears. Council leader Ian Miller needs to convince people that he gets it, and that isn’t coming across at all,” he said.
Mr Barrett, leader of the local Lib Dem group, added: “We need to send out a clear signal of what our vision for the city centre is for the 21st century. One that recognises that the solution is not to tear up pedestrianised areas which are free of traffic congestion and traffic pollution, but which offer safer environments for pedestrians to linger and enjoy.
“We are falling further and further behind more progressive cities where the priority is to make our roads and streets safer places for people.”
He added: “We have done some tremendous work on the city centre to bring buildings back into use, increasing the number of people living and shopping in the city centre, but we need to get much better at tackling graffiti and vandalism and making sure that visitors feel safe in the city as a consequence.”
