Link road benefits fading

On September 6, councillors increased the Cross Tay Link Road budget by £32.5m.

In 2016 the original budget was £78.0m. The previous budget had been £118.0m; the revised budget is almost twice the original.

Compulsory Purchase Order and legal costs do not appear to be included in this budget.

Budgets for this and the ongoing City Hall conversion project in Perth were severely underestimated, questioning the ability to manage large projects.

PKC states land allocations in its Local Development Plan cannot be delivered without the CTLR and that failure to deliver would result in financial penalties.

There is no guarantee against such a high level of risk, which questions PKC’s judgement in accepting this.

Three options to bridge the River Tay were promoted by PKC in 2010, based on a report from Halcrow.

The CTLR route chosen is not the most favourable, because efficiency declines outwards from Perth’s centre.

The CTLR is shown to be less effective without improvements to the Friarton slips. This option has no budget.

Established traffic movements in and out of Perth shown by Halcrow are unlikely to be influenced by the CTLR.

Ongoing congestion at Inveralmond and Broxden roundabouts will take a long time to resolve, if they can be resolved effectively, or at all.

The CTLR will only increase congestion at Inveralmond.

The claimed benefits for this project decrease in credibility for every increase in budget.

Perth and Kinross councillors also recently voted to increase the budget for the City Hall conversion by £700,000.

A further £300,000 is to be added by Culture Perth and Kinross.

This project’s initial budget was reallocated from improvements intended for the George Street museum and to provide a collection store.

Can Perth afford two museums? A new collection store: when?