PRICEY PERTH IS UK ’ S FIFTH DEAREST CITY Council’s Survey on living costs sewage is fly-tipped

Perth and Kinross Council has admitted their contractors fly-tipped waste recovered from a clogged drain into a private field.

The local authority was called to clear a gully near Stanley in November, but admitted that what its Tayside Contracts team dug up was dumped at the edge of the road. Pic Angus Findlay

Full story page five Perth is the most expensive place to live in Scotland comparative to local wages, the Perthshire Advertiser can reveal.

An independent study carried out by ABC Finance has revealed that Perth residents have the least disposable income out of any Scottish city and spend six months of the year at work purely covering their cost of living.

The average salary in the city is £26,811, which is only £3181 more than the Scottish average cost of living per household. This equates to around £265 per month left over after basic living costs are deducted.

The results of the study, which was designed to highlight the cost of living and working in London compared to elsewhere in the UK, were released on Friday.

Inverness, Dundee, Aberdeen, Stirling, Glasgow and Edinburgh all made the shortlist of pricey places to live, but the Fair City topped the Scottish list - and came fifth in the UK-wide analysis.

Perth was alongside the towns of St Asaph in Wales, Ely in Cambridgeshire, Ripon in Yorkshire and Wells in Somerset in the top five most expensive places to live.

In the past, Shire councillors have admitted that the region, while not suffering from high unemployment, does struggle with offering high wages.

Strategic policy and resource committee vice-convenor and former environment, enterprise