Parking spaces appeal to be heard

A card-playing group has appealed a council decision to deny them off-street parking spaces for its members outside their regular meeting place in Perth.

Perth Bridge Club has asked the council’s Local Review Body to take another look at their application to create a few parking spaces in the grounds of their King Street quarters after an official denied the group permission under delegated powers.

Case officer Marianna Porter recommended the club’s application be refused after taking exception to its proposal to knock a hole through a boundary wall and take away iron gates to create an access to the spaces.

She said in her delegated report this was unacceptable as the club’s King Street meeting place is a listed building and also lies in the city’s conservation area and as such ought to be protected from demolition or other work that would adversely affect it or its setting.

Ms Porter said: “The removal of the boundary wall and gates would result in the loss of historic built fabric forming part of the curtilage of the listed building. Without the wall and garden grounds the ability to appreciate the original setting of the listed building would be lost.”

She went on:“The landscaped garden grounds make a positive contribution to the residential amenity of the area. Their proposed demolition and replacement with a gravelled parking area would have a negative impact.”

The group’s appeal against Ms Porter’s decision will be heard today (Tuesday, January 8).