At least a year delay for the Mill Quarter
Parts of £30m project being revised
A planned £30 million “retail led” development in Perth council chiefs once hoped would be a “catalyst for economic change” is unlikely to be ready for at least another year, the PA has learned.
The local authority previously predicted Expresso Property would have completely finished building a new state-ofthe-art cinema plus a series of bars and restaurants as well as a mix of apartments at Thimblerow by summer 2019.
Company director Nick Robinson said at the end of August 2017 he expected construction work to start on the Mill Quarter project sometime in 2018 after apparently concluding missives for the site with the council earlier that month.
He said at the time: “We are delighted to announce we have concluded missives for the Mill Quarter site from PKC. The next stage is to obtain planning permission and we hope to apply shortly in the hope that construction works will begin in the first half of 2018.”
And a report presented to councillors in November 2017 said to be a summary of the work of the local authority’s environment service between April and September 2017 predicted much the same thing.
It said: “The council has concluded the sale of land to Expresso Property Ltd to progress the Mill Quarter site, a brand new landmark mixed leisure scheme with residential apartments.
“The scheme will be a catalyst for economic change in Perth and will significantly transform the city’s visitor destination offer on completion. Construction works are due to commence in 2018 and be completed in summer 2019.”
But when the PA recently asked for a copy of a different report involving the proposed development which was considered by a council committee way back in May 2015, a spokesperson said its disclosure “would cause harm to the negotiations in relation to the Thimblerow site in Perth”.
And when asked to explain what negotiations were still taking place another spokesperson conceded Expresso Property has had to at least partially revise its original proposal for the site and that a planning application won’t be submitted for approval until later this year at the earliest.
The spokesperson said: “The development agreement was concluded August 23, 2017. Negotiations with Expresso Property have continued during a very turbulent time for the retail and leisure sectors, with institutional investors and banks reluctant to fund such schemes.
“Consequently, the Mill Quarter project has had to be redesigned whilst still delivering the original objective of supporting the city centre economy without the loss of parking.
“The council can confirm it expects a planning application to be submitted by Expresso Property later in the year prior to the expiry of the development agreement.
“As the grant of a development lease to Expresso will ultimately be subject to the granting of planning consent, the detail must remain commercially confidential at this time.”
The PA also asked Expresso Property to comment on the delay but didn’t receive a response before going to press yesterday.