‘Huge backwards step’, says MP Wishart
Pete Wishart, MP for Perth and North Perthshire, has written to the leader of Perth and Kinross Council urging for potential proposals to introduce charges for the Winter Festival to be scrapped.
This comes after the council’s director of environment Barbara Renton confirmed options to potentially introduce charges for some events were being looked at.
The SNP MP has since written to Councillor Murray Lyle, the leader of Ian Sullivan the council and of the Conservative administration, urging for the proposals to be dropped.
He said: “The lights switch-on and the Winter Festival have been well attended events in the past and encourage a lot of people to visit the city centre.
“It would be foolish to jeopardise the success of this event and I have already heard from people to say a charge would encourage them to go to events in neighbouring cities, such as Dundee and Stirling.
“I sincerely hope that the Tory administration will listen to the number of Perthshire residents who feel that this would be a huge backwards step for Perth, especially at a time when we are building a real reputation for cultural events and festivals.
“I ask the leader of the council to abandon these plans now before the perception starts to get out that the event is going to be expensive for Perthshire families to attend.”
In his letter to Cllr Lyle, Mr Wishart said: “I understand that this is part of a wider consideration about PKC run events but I have concerns that an introduction of charges for the winter events could lead to Perth missing out on footfall to other nearby cities, such as Dundee and Stirling. I have attended the Perth events over a number of years and I am always pleased to see our city centre bustling and businesses being well used.”
His letter added: “I hope that you will consider the views of Perth residents and visitors when making any decisions about charging an entrance fee for these events.”