Villagers vexed by claim on link road
A group representing people in Scone has disputed the council’s claim it was “fully consulted”on the chosen route of a planned new road and bridge over the River Tay.
A local authority spokesperson claimed last week the route of the proposed Cross Tay Link Road (CTLR) was picked after a“lengthy appraisal and selection process”and it engaged with Scone and District Community Council (SDCC) as well as plenty of other interested parties throughout this process.
The spokesperson was responding to complaints from the group that council officers appeared unwilling to reconsider shifting the start of the road further north so it avoids a planned development or take on board suggestions such as setting up a speed limit at a section set to pass through Highfield Plantation.
“The chosen route has been determined through a lengthy appraisal and selection process following government guidance,”the spokesperson said.“SDCC has been fully consulted on the proposals, as has the wider community, statutory bodies and user groups.”
The spokesperson added:“It is unlikely Police Scotland would support a reduced speed limit as it would not be in accordance with current guidelines.”
But an SDCC spokesperson has since claimed:“SDCC were never consulted by PKC regarding the route of the CTLR. This statement is blatantly untrue. The statutory consultees were consulted in the summer of 2017. We were not consulted then.
“We wrote to PKC in January this year asking to be consulted and also to [design consultants] SWECO. We received no reply from either.
“The so-called‘consultation’ meetings in May and June this year were exhibitions, not consultations. Indeed one of the SDCC who attended as an individual was told that‘the route was fixed and could not be changed’at this point, so this was not a consultation. The SDCC ask for evidence to be provided of such claimed consultation.”
The spokesperson went on:“The SDCC is a statutory consultee whose members know the village, would have expressed concern regarding the route running through [Scone North], alongside a new school, and who were not consulted. SDCC, which is working for its community, is offended by this untrue claim that it was consulted.
“Finally PKC representatives told us they had consulted the police who had said [they] could not enforce a speed limit lower than 50mph. These later PKC comments suggest this did not happen but that they believe the police would not approve it.”
Asked to respond to the community council’s latest remark’s a PKC spokesperson said:“The council has previously advised SDCC that, based on past discussion with Police Scotland and our technical knowledge and experience of setting speed limits, criteria for a lower speed limit would not be met here.
“Consequently, this proposal would be unlikely to receive support from Police Scotland.”
The spokesperson added:“As indicated in our recent statement, there has been extensive, detailed consultation and we are happy to discuss this directly with SDCC.”