Perthshire school holiday dates to be aligned with Angus and Dundee.

Scotland’s environment watchdog said it could take years for a Perthshire river to recover from a major pollution scare which killed scores of salmon and trout. Scottish Water had to shut off supplies to more than 50,000 homes, a hospital, prison and food manufacturer as a precaution after the spill at Bankfoot in 2015. On Friday, businessman Andrew Bailie was fined £1,200 after he pled guilty to storing a fertiliser tank too close to the Ordie Burn, a conservation area. Perth Sheriff Court heard that while Bailie was not on site when his company Digestate Management Services was spreading fertiliser, he was aware that the tank was located just two or three metres from the watercourse, which is a breach of regulations. Sepa found that, following a blockage, liquid fertiliser spilled into the Ordie. Chief executive Terry A’Hearn said: “Andrew Bailie failed to follow the regulations that are in place to protect the environment, and this resulted in pollution to the water environment with significant impact to trout and salmon populations. “This incident was not only unacceptable, it was avoidable. “In instances like this, it is our job to hold such operators to account and we hope this outcome sends a strong message to everybody operating in Scotland.” Sepa officer Calum McGregor said: “Whilst anaerobic digestate is a useful fertiliser if used and stored properly, it is a highly polluting liquid which can cause significant harm to fish if it is allowed to enter a watercourse. “The discharge of anaerobic digestate to the watercourse caused a significant number of fish to be killed, mainly salmonoids, over a 2.2 km stretch of the Ordie Burn and one kilometre stretch of the Wynnie Burn. It is expected it will be a number of years before the river fully recovers.” Mr McGregor added: “If Mr Bailie had ensured that the storage of anaerobic digestate complied with the regulations then this incident could have been avoided.”