Lang Toon truck anger
Strath residents have hit out at lorry drivers using their street to access a busy building site and at the council for not ensuring their welfare is respected.
People living in Auchterarder’s Hunter Street are fed up with developer Muir Homes for not insisting trucks going to and from the Castleton housing development steer clear of the area when children are going to school.
They say they see convoys of lorries, some days between 8am and 9am.
The residents also say dust and mud on the road have become a problem, with mud allegedly being trailed as far as the Feus and the High Street.
A Hunter Street spokesperson said police had been contacted and continued: “It is not only debris from the wheels but the danger from the uncovered material falling out.
“The pavements and roads are filthy, first from mud and now from dust too because of the dry spell.”
Strathallan councillor Ann Gaunt said: “I have taken up the activity by lorry drivers for Muir Homes with the planning enforcement officer.
“We had an agreement with the site agent of Muir Homes that they would only let lorries operate outwith school hours.
Cllr Gaunt added: “This enforcement officer has written to the company, reminding them of the original agreement to keep drivers from using Hunter Street when the school is on.”
She added: “I’ve also taken up the terrible state of the road surface at the entrance of Hunter Street with the roads department.
“As for residents finding their cars covered in brown dust from material coming off the lorries, that is something I cannot help with.”
Andy Yule, construction director at Muir Homes, said: “As part of the construction of 16 low cost homes, Muir Homes were required to move material off-site over a period of three weeks.
“Whilst this did result in some mud on the road, a road sweeper was employed every evening to minimise any impact to our residents and on the adjoining road network.
“These works were completed two weeks ago and the site has now returned to normal deliveries.”
Mr Yule added: “In light of the concerns raised regarding schoolchildren, we have spoken with our main suppliers to try and ensure that deliveries come to site outwith school opening and closing times.”
A spokesperson for Perth and Kinross Council said: “We appreciate the impact development of this scale has on residential amenity and the council was keen to arrange informal measures relating to traffic management for the construction of both the Stewart Milne and Muir Homes sites.
“This was informally agreed with both developers but as it is an informal agreement the planning authority has no means to enforce this.
“Since the concerns have been raised with the council we have approached both developers to request they remain vigilant with regard to their traffic management and ensure they abide by what had been informally agreed.
“The new distributor road is expected to be open to motorists by June, which is aimed at further alleviating the impact of the development on Hunter Street.”
A spokesperson for Stewart Milne Homes apologised for the delay in opening the link road. They said: “This has been aggravated by the difficulties faced in getting services installed by the multi-utility company charged with completing these works.
“It is expected that all the services will be complete by around the end of March to allow us to progress the remaining works to the roundabout, road and footpaths before the summer holiday period. In the meantime we continue to take all our construction traffic directly off the High Street into our development, ensuring we keep it away from Hunter Street.”
The residents have asked for a meeting with Perth and Kinross Council.