Fed up of traffic lights
Dean Brown and Amelia hand over the cheque to Kinfauns RDA A Perthshire community is in uproar that temporary traffic lights along Loch Tay have been there for over three years without the roadworks taking place, costing Perth and Kinross Council £200 per week.
The traffic lights on the lochside below the village of Fearnan have already cost the council £35,000, and are due to stay in place until next year.
Locals are angered because of the “pointless” waste of public money from the long-term equipment hire, caused by an argument over the landowner’s plans to build on the land in question.
A spokesperson for Perth and Kinross Council told the PA: “The traffic lights on the A827 west of Fearnan have been in place since March 2016 following the partial collapse of a section of retaining embankment. They are in place in the interests of public safety to prevent vehicles driving close to the collapsed embankment and cost around £200 per week.
“The area of shoreline at this point is in private ownership with planning permission to build a boathouse. This has necessitated regular discussion with the landowner and the design solution requires to ensure that the owner can achieve construction of
The lights along Loch Tay set the council back by £200 a week
the boathouse after the embankment works.
“The council served notice in 2018 of our intention to proceed on the basis of three feasibility design options, but further discussions have since taken place.
“We can confirm that ground investigation works should commence in the next six weeks which will advise final detailed design with the intention to carry out construction between April and June 2020, when historical records show this to be the period when the water levels are usually at their lowest.”
At a recent Glenlyon and Loch Tay Community Council meeting, discussion turned to how the lights have been there for over three years now without repairs to the road being done.
One member of the public, a resident of nearby Lawers, expressed a widely-shared view that this was “simply not good enough” and it is now time for PKC to compulsory purchase the land so that repairs to the A827 can be carried out.
Sue Dolan-Betney, community council chair, explained Perth and Kinross Council insists the lights are genuinely required for safety reasons until a permanent repair is effected.
Sue said: “There’s no arguing with that. It would only need one vehicle to go over the crumbling edge for the cost to be justified.
“But people are angry that one person can delay essential road repairs for so long and run up a bill for the tax payer of around £35,000 to date.
“At the road safety meeting held in Fearnan on July 22, at which the traffic and network manager and the road maintenance manager were present, we were assured an agreement with the landowner was close, that rock experts had been engaged and that it was hoped to start work on the road in the next two to three months.”