The backers of a bid to transform Perth City Hall into a food market have been given just 12 weeks to prove they can financially deliver the project.
Although backing the plan as the preferred bidder over a hotel proposal, councillors stressed that failure to demonstrate sufficient investment and a strict timetable for completion would torpedo lease negotiations.
If no deal can be concluded, the future of the Edwardian building, which has lain empty for a decade, would once more be in jeopardy, as councillor Alan Grant pointed out.
“It may seem strange that I have seconded this (bid), as the survival of the city hall is an anathema to me,” said the long-time supporter of demolishing the hall to make way for a civic square.
“This is not the end of the process, it is just a stage, they (Perth Market Place Ltd) will have a lot to do to satisfy us.”
The councillors agreed to accept the food market hall bid as the preferred option but, due to concerns about funding and “to mitigate against the potential risk of failure”, they agreed the three-month timescale for vital information, including letters of intent from shareholders, to be provided. “The council would require all the preconditions to be satisfied before granting a long ground lease,” depute chief executive Jim Valentine told the meeting.
Those present heard Historic Scotland wishes to see all avenues in finding a use for the hall explored but does not wish the process to continue “in perpetuity”.
The council was also assured that the lease would be drawn up in such a way as to ensure that if permission is given for a food market hall, it will not evolve into something else at a later stage.
Questioned by councillors, Mr Valentine said it is the bidder’s contention that the proposed food market business would be of economic benefit to existing businesses, rather than harming them, by attracting visitors.
This failed to convince Councillor Barbara Vaughan, who asked that while all other councillors accepted the market plan as the preferred bidder, she wished her “dissent to be recorded”.
She said she is “neither for or against” the plan but in the absence of a report on the economic impact on existing businesses, she felt it was impossible to judge the proposal.
Mrs Vaughan said the thriving independent business sector had been one of the prime reasons she and her husband moved to the area and she does not want its future to be compromised.
Councillor Ian Miller, council leader, said the matter would come back to the council in February unless negotiations should fail, which would be reported back immediately.
The Edwardian structure was closed a decade ago when Perth Concert Hall was built and has lain empty ever since.