There is the vision but not the finance to restore Perth Railway Station to its former glory, a senior councillor says.
Alan Jack, who is deputy chairman of regional transport group Tactran, spoke out after Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Murdo Fraser criticised its facilities and said a “clear vision and future” for the station needed to be drawn up.
The councillor said the vision Mr Fraser was demanding had been with Perth and Kinross Council’s planning department “for many years”, with the intention to demolish the existing entrance and restore the station’s facade to its original magnificence.
Sadly for all involved in the project, the funding is simply not available.
Mr Jack said funding was being concentrated on schemes in the central belt, to the detriment of communities elsewhere. And he claimed that if the council’s vision was to become a reality, then Perth could become a “core area for transportation across Scotland”, benefiting the area greatly.
“We, as a council, have the vision but regretfully not the money as Transport Scotland and Network Rail seem somewhat laidback on this important improvement from a communication and development aspect,” he said.
“As far as services between Perth and Edinburgh are concerned, they have been improved over the years by Tactran who are involved in bus and rail services within the area. Indeed, we should be looking in more detail at the need for increased services between Perth, Aberdeen and Inverness.
“We are in a situation where if money was available then Perth could be a core area for transportation across Scotland, which would be to the benefit of the area socially and economically.
“It would appear on the surface that massive amounts of money are being spent on the central belt with anything past Stirling being ignored. The proportion of the population within the central belt is obviously higher and it is understandable that money is being spent there, but we must not forget the area of Scotland north of Stirling and beyond to ensure communications for the public are adequate.”
Perth and Kinross Council’s plan is to integrate a rail/bus terminus by using some of the available platforms on the west side of the station, which would allow a walk-on walk-off from bus to rail service and vice versa.
Access would be from the County Place entrance (the old Red Star depot), which would help reduce the volume of traffic going through Perth town centre.