Crieff residents have warned cash-strapped council chiefs they could be gambling with the town’s safety if they look to penny pinch over road improvements.
The community has been calling for changes to the busy Broich Road for many years but has only a feeble line of plastic bollards to show for it.
Campaigners fear Perth and Kinross Council is holding out for developer contributions – linked to a variety of retail proposals – before taking action.
They believe the resolution of a court case into an accident that almost cost one local woman her life should focus minds on the need for urgency.
Every day Broich is driven by school busses, public transport, school-run parents, farm vehicles and heavy goods vehicles.
It leads to three schools, factories, industrial premises and farms, a Tayside Contracts yard, the Perth and Kinross Council tip and a fire station.
Yet it is narrow and congested at peak times, provides parking for school busses and has problem junctions, such as that with King Street.
Numerous supermarkets have also sought to move in, with varying degrees of planning permission in place for two sites.
With their progression repeatedly delayed, resident, campaigner and former Crieff Community Council chairman Craig Findlay believes the improvements cannot wait for one to come to fruition.
“Following the recent court case against the driver of a bus which pinned a Crieff lady to a wall on Broich Road, we have now learned that this driver did not intentionally mount the pavement, but rather the wheels ascended the kerb due to the traction of the vehicle,” he said.
“The driver highlighted the reason for driving so close to the kerb as being the parking of vehicles on the opposite side of the road.
“I assume the vehicles included school minibuses for St Dominic’s Primary School pupils as this is the area of their designated bus parking.
“In my view, the current safety measures at the junction of Broich Road with King Street – three small plastic bollards – are insufficient to prevent another accident.
“Aside from the plastic bollards, Perth and Kinross Council’s roads department agreed in early January this year to have plans drawn up to widen the extremely narrow junction in this area.
“Almost nine months on, nothing further has been heard.”
Mr Findlay said consideration should be given to changing the junction at Broich Road and King Street to make the former easier to access.
Proposals have included the formation of a new roundabout and the introduction of traffic lights.
Residents are also looking at ways of easing congestion on Broich Road, with removing parked vehicles one of the key aims.
To that end, the community still hopes to secure land off the narrow road for the parking of buses for St Dominic’s Primary School.
At present they use four on-road bays. One suggestion has been to use land owned by Crieff Highland Gathering, though that did not find favour with the committee.
However, Mr Findlay said another solution was at hand.
“Directly across the road sits a large empty piece of land owned by Scottish Gas Networks that will be put up for sale at the end of the year,” he said.
“I will continue to urge Perth and Kinross Council to enter talks with SGN to utilise some, or all, of this land to ease the chaotic scenes at busy times on this section of road.
“An area of land this size could also be used for coach parking, lorry parking or even a park-and-ride to help ease Crieff’s central pollution problem.
“If the opportunity to purchase this land was passed over and the land was sold for more development, I think the people of Strathearn would be outraged.”
Perth and Kinross Council was unable to comment by the time of going to press.
