Two major developments could hold the key to Perth’s longstanding battle with air pollution and congestion.
Significant efforts are being made to resurrect plans for a transport hub that would remove hundreds of heavy goods vehicle from the city centre.
The announcement comes as Friends of the Earth Scotland revealed Perth is on track to break legal air pollution limits for 2014, with Atholl Street unveiled as one of the country’s 12 most polluted streets.
Despite general good air quality, the city’s heart has been designated an Air Quality Management Area since 2006, due to high levels of nitrogen dioxide (N02) and particulates.
In a bid to tackle this, Perth and Kinross Council is also understood to be entering the final stages of negotiations with whisky producer the Edrington Group to secure land for a new park and ride facility.
It would be created at Walnut Grove, to the east of the city, at an initial cost of around £1.5 million and could significantly reduce the number of cars entering the city from Dundee each day.
The two steps are considered vital to the health and well-being of Perth and to ensure it remains a desirable place in which to live and work.
Perth and Kinross Council’s head of planning David Littlejohn told The Courier: “We have to address air quality issues and these schemes would help us take a major step towards achieving that goal.”
In the longer term, the council also hopes to construct a new Cross Tay bridge and link road from the A9 north of Inveralmond to the A94 north of Scone.
Perth’s problems with air quality stem from the presence of a number of traffic bottlenecks, including Barrack Street, Tay Street, Dundee Road, the Queen’s Bridge and Bridgend.
Worst affected is the junction of Atholl Street, Melville Street and North Methven Street, where efforts have been made to change the operation of traffic lights in a bid to keep vehicles moving.
The issue has long taxed Perth and Kinross Council, which had hoped that the creation of a freight consolidation centre would make a major difference.
Proposed for the Inveralmond Industrial Estate, it would have seen HGVs unloading at the facility, with low-emission vehicles then making multiple drops to retailers in Perth potentially reducing the number of delivery vehicles entering the city centre by more than 50%.
Funding had been secured from the European Union, TACTRAN and the Scottish Government for a two-year trial, but hopes were dashed when the sole bidder interested in operating the hub pulled out without explanation.
Now significant efforts are being made to bring the project back to life, with council chiefs turning to the continent to inspire Scotland’s hauliers.
City centre manager Leigh Brown said: “Through TACTRAN we are speaking to companies in the Netherlands who have used the freight hub idea very successfully.
“It’s operated as a social enterprise within nine cities and we will be inviting some of those involved to visit Scotland and speak to us and to Scotland’s haulage firms to see if there is a model that we can bring here.”
Mr Littlejohn added: “This needs hauliers to think outside of the box and do something different for customers in Perth.
“Without a legislative reason to make this change such as a ban on entering the city centre it will be up to us as a council to win hearts and minds.”
Council chiefs hope the new park and ride facility would be used by commuters entering Perth from the east, alleviating pressure upon the busy Dundee road.