Closure proposal goes to Holyrood
Perth and Kinross Council has been forced to refer a proposal to close a road near Scone for its Cross Tay Link Road project to the Scottish Government for a final decision.
The council wants to stop up the U88 Stormontfield Road at a point approximately 230 metres west of where it currently joins the A93 at Old Scone.
In a statement of its reasons to shut the road, PKC said it considers the CTLR will provide locals“a better and safer access to the A93 from Stormontfield Road”via a new roundabout planned east of the Scone Camping and Caravan Club site.
However Scone and District Community Council (SDCC) objected to the closure, arguing it will force people living in Stormontfield to drive far greater distances along the CTLR to get to Scone than they have to at the moment using the existing junction.
Now PKC has confirmed it has been forced to refer the stopping up proposal to the Scottish Government for an independent decision on the matter as SDCC is refusing to withdraw its objection.
SDCC said of the proposal in its objection:“The residents of Stormontfield, which is a community of approximately 50 houses with no local services, require to travel to Scone in order to access work, buses, shops, schools, churches, pubs and social activities, a distance of approximately three miles.
“The unilateral proposal to stop up the U88 (Stormontfield Road South) at the new Scone Palace access ... will involve each resident ... travelling an additional distance of 1.44 miles per trip in order to reach Old Scone (an increase of almost 50 per cent).
“A survey conducted within the Stormontfield community, with a 55 per cent response rate, indicates that as a community we would in perpetuity be involved in travelling an additional distance annually of over 86,000 miles with its consequential effect in both monetary and environmental terms.
“In addition to local residents’ movements, traffic from central Perth, Dundee, Bridgend, Kinnoull, Scone and potentially even Edinburgh intending to attend ... events at Perth Racecourse or events in the Scone Palace grounds, using the A93 route, will require to travel this additional 1.44 miles due to Stormontfield Road South being stopped up to vehicular traffic.”
Community councillor Donald McKerracher said the group had received word their objection had been referred to the Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA) at their most recent online meeting.“Our objection was refused by PKC but it’s now gone to the DPEA and we’re waiting for a report,”he said.
A PKC spokesperson told the PA: “The stopping up order for the U88 west of Old Scone ... received objections that were not withdrawn and was therefore remitted to the Scottish Government for decision on April 27, 2021.”