A leading road safety campaigner fromhas welcomed funding of almost £350,000 for roadworks designed to address Crieff residents’ concerns about an accident blackspot.
Craig Finlay, 33, former chair of Crieff Community Council, described the announcement that Perth and Kinross Council will provide the necessary finances to enable long-awaited road safety improvements on the Broich Road/Burrell Street/King Street junction in Crieff as “very welcome news.”
He has campaigned for action to be taken in the area for years, mainly prompted by the horrendous injuries suffered by Crieff resident Lena Tocher who was pinned against a wall by a bus in Broich Road in November 2015,.
Following pressure from local Conservative Councillor Roz McCall, members of Perth and Kinross Council’s strategic policy and resources committee voted to adjust the local authority’s environment service budget to allow funds to be released to pay for work at the junction.
Planning consent is in place for three development proposals along Broich Road and the council will claim back costs accrued through the major roadworks project from businesses at a later date.
Mr Finlay said: “It’s great news that the council has agreed to provide this much needed funding to improve road safety in the Broich Road area of Crieff.
“As a long-standing campaigner who has called for action to be taken regarding road safety here, I must give praise to Ms McCall, who helped vote this measure through at committee level by speaking to council chiefs about all the problems we have seen at this junction.
“This is something that has been needed for a long time so I’m delighted that work will be taken to improve the roads in the Broich Road area.”
Ms McCall saidd: “The problem with the Broich Road/Burrell Street/King Street junction is decades old. We are dealing with road conditions that have been allowed to deteriorate.
“I know the condition of the roads is an important issue for local residents and I made it a priority to convince the council leader and raise the profile of this particular road (Broich Road) and junction as soon as I was elected.
“I am thrilled that the people of Crieff will finally have the investment to benefit the area, increase safety for pedestrians and cyclists, and hopefully give the developers confidence to move their projects forward.”
The roadworks will consist of road safety measures at locations adjacent to the proposed development sites along with road realignment work. The total cost of the scheme is estimated to cost £320,000.
