Time to step up transport plans
Statistics last week revealed that the population of Perth and Kinross increased by 8% in the period between 2015 and 2016.
The majority of this increase was as a result of inward migration, with the area amongst Scotland’s most successful when it came to attracting talent from elsewhere.
As of June last year over 150,000 people called the towns and villages of Perth and Kinross home.
Amazingly only six other Scottish local authority areas out-performed Perth and Kinross when it came to attracting newcomers, and significantly these were based in or around Scotland’s three main cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Perth is Scotland’s best small city and these statistics underline that fact.
An increasing population is good news for the local economy, for attracting investment and for promoting Perth and Kinross as a place to do business. Many other areas across Scotland are suffering from significant skills shortages, but Perth and Kinross’ability to attract people from elsewhere is helping combat this.
Nonetheless, as the population increases it is important that the supporting transport, housing and public services infrastructure grows with it.
Public services are already stretched, class sizes are increasing and GP waiting lists are not getting shorter. Matching public services to an expanding population will require careful planning and investment. When complete the new Bertha Park development west of Perth will welcome hundreds of residents and a new school is currently being designed to meet these needs. The linking of schools, GP surgeries and new homes will take on increasing importance as the area grows.
It’s not just public services that will need to improve, transport links will also have to get better to serve more people. The Cross Tay Link Road is one of these projects that will be necessary to meet demand. Traffic in and around Perth is already intolerable for many during rush hour and city planners must develop new solutions for commuters. One of these solutions has to be improving public transport. Taking cars off the road by increasing bus and train capacity is good for both the environment and congestion.
One such public transport project could be a direct rail link between Perth and Edinburgh and I have been a vocal and passionate advocate for this project. It was faster to travel between Perth and Edinburgh in the age of the steam engine than it is now, which is not progress by any means. From my interactions with the communities south of Perth I can attest that there is considerable local support for a direct link between Edinburgh and Perth. As a result of this I have called on the Scottish Government to throw their weight behind a feasibility study to investigate the potential for laying new track south of Perth.
We have known for a long time that Perth and Kinross is a wonderful place to call home and it looks like that secret has finally got out, and now we must ensure that it has the infrastructure to support its growing population.
As always I can be contacted at The Control Tower, Perth Airport, Scone, Perth PH2 6PL tel: 01738 553990 or email: Elizabeth. Smith.msp@parliament.scot Our growing population needs investment in transport and schools says Ms Smith