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Last-minute plea to save Perth City Hall

Perth City Hall.
Perth City Hall.

One of the UK’s most respected architectural historians has begged councillors to step back from the brink and save Perth’s Edwardian City Hall.

Council officers have recommended refusal of plans that would save the building from the bulldozers and elected members could today pave the way for its destruction.

They meet on Wednesday afternoon to make their decision.

In a letter obtained by The Courier, however, Marcus Binney begs Perth and Kinross Council chief executive Bernadette Malone to intervene.

Mr Binney is the executive president of Save Britain’s Heritage, which campaigns for threatened historic buildings.

“We are extremely concerned to hear that, once again, there is a possibility of an application to demolish Perth City Hall, following the rejection of a proposal by the Perth City Market Trust to turn the building into an indoor market,” he said.

“A careful and practical alternative strategy has been drawn up, with help from the Prince’s Regeneration Trust, which is a great improvement on earlier schemes for commercial reuse, which involved a considerable degree of unsympathetic alteration.UPDATE: Councillors have backed demolition. Click here for more.“There is no need for it to be a burden on taxpayers as funds can be raised from outside sources, notably the Lottery.

“In particular, we point to the Heritage Enterprise Grant a new funding route which provides funding to cover conservation deficits, allowing for the commercial reuse of historic buildings.

“The involvement of the Prince’s Regeneration Trust greatly increases the likelihood that such funding applications will succeed.”

Mr Binnie added: “All over Britain handsome town and city halls, almost every one a landmark in its own location, have been faced with difficulties.

“There are, however, numerous examples of historic corn markets in market towns that have been adapted as more general markets and premises for small shops and stalls on the lines now proposed for Perth. These uses not only bring life to a town but also custom and a much wider range of shoppers.

“Perth contains some of the finest civic architecture in Scotland outside Edinburgh and Glasgow and nearby you have the magnificent example of Stanley Mills, brought back to life by the Phoenix Trust, (the precursor of the Princes Trust).

“We consider it will be entirely premature to reject the present scheme and vote to proceed with an application for demolition.”

Mr Binney urged the chief executive to “open the way” for further consideration of the Perth City Market Trust proposal.

In November, the Perth City Market Trust emerged as the sole bider for the City Hall following its remarketing.

Its members are keen to see it transformed to house a tourist information and visitor centre, a market hall for speciality retailers and food vendors, and a function space, with small business units, a gallery and a rooftop restaurant.

Those plans and the proposed means of securing funding have since been described as “unfeasible” by independent experts and it is recommended that councillors instead green-light demolition for a second time.

The trust and its partners will stand before councillors today in a bid to sway opinion away from that step and hope that Mr Binnie’s words will have helped.