Costly 14-month delay to close Perth Harbour slammed as "ridiculous"

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Perth City Centre councillor has slammed the delay in closing Perth Harbour - which councillors voted in February 2023 to close - as "ridiculous".It has emerged the hold-up is costing Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) around £84,000 a year.The local authority has confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service six vessels have used Perth Harbour between the decision to close it and March 31, 2024.On February 8, 2023 councillors voted by 22 votes to 14 - with two abstentions - to close Perth Harbour after it had fallen into decline.

It was operating at a projected loss of around £300,000.At PKC's Finance and Resources Committee meeting on Wednesday, April 24, the council's Conservative group leader queried when it would close.Conservative councillor John Duff asked: "Having taken the decision over a year ago to close the harbour, when do you anticipate it will be closed and what are the ongoing annual costs for it in the meantime?"The local authority's director of Economy, Place and Learning Alison Williams said: "A letter has been written but we are waiting to hear back because we have to have permission to close.

It's a national requirement."She said it was "chased up two weeks ago because we hadn't heard back so there's no timeframe on that at the moment".Council leader Grant Laing added: "We've not been allowed to close it as yet and we have paid off the harbour master and depute harbour master and we're having to employ them on an ad hoc basis at the moment."Liberal Democrat Perth City Centre councillor Peter Barrett described the situation as "ridiculous".Cllr Barrett said: "Unfortunately we are now in the situation where Perth Harbour is the financial wound that won't stop bleeding and we're in the bizarre