Illegal fly-tippers have laid waste to a prominent Perth site which is earmarked for a new supermarket.
Abandoned caravans, burnt out vehicles and old furniture are strewn around the city’s old livestock market, off Crieff Road.
The land has been empty since the once-thriving auction was moved to Stirling nearly a decade ago.
Huge boulders were used to block off the two-acre plot and prevent fly-tipping.
But the rocks were shifted about a year ago, leaving the site open and insecure.
Now developers have agreed to carry out a costly clear-up, while plans are being progressed for a new £40 million supermarket.
FRP Advisory, which took over the running of the site from consortium Perth City West, want to renew planning permission for the store and re-market the site.
The firm has agreed to clean-up following talks with SEPA.
Almond and Earn councillor Henry Anderson said: “The state of the site now is just completely unacceptable. It is a total eyesore.
“I was given assurances that a specialist company had been commissioned to clear up the old mart and install new security bollards. However, according to the details I received, the work was due to start last week and it doesn’t look like anything has been done.”
He said: “Things have really been allowed to spiral out of control here and it cannot be allowed to continue like this.
“Although some of the rubbish has clearly been left behind by travellers, it looks like there is a lot of commercial waste being dumped here as well.”
It costs Perth and Kinross Council around £75,000 to clear up waste dumped by businesses on its sites.
Today, members of the local authority’s environment committee will consider a permit system for the disposal of trade waste at recycling centres.
Companies will be required to apply for permission to bring in their waste, with a pre-paid voucher system to cover disposal costs.
If approved, the new system will be introduced with a “soft start” and will be fully implemented by June next year.
Environment committee convenor Alan Grant said: “In bringing this plan forward, we are looking to deal with the indiscriminate and unlawful use of our recycling centres to get rid of commercial waste in a reasonable and straightforward way.
“We recognise that the vast majority of businesses act responsibly and we want to ensure this approach is supported while removing the unfair advantage that others gain by claiming they are only bringing household waste to our facilities and avoiding paying fees.”
No one from FRP Advisory was available to comment on the Perth Mart site.
