Scrappingcityhallproject couldsaveourroads

I refer to the story headlined ‘State of the winter roads a disgrace’ in last Friday’s PA and to the council’s reply.

It is high time the council stopped bleating about limited resources, challenging conditions and tough situations.

We all know times are hard. However, in my original story, you failed to mention that the council robbed the roads budget of millions of pounds to shore up the exorbitant cost of the city hall project.

In my opinion, this will be a complete waste of money. The councillors had agreed to take £2.6 million from the roads budget to help pay for the major revamp of Perth City Hall as costs soar to £26.5m. Who knows what the final cost of this ill-judged project will be.

The city hall, in my opinion, is just an eyesore and should have been flattened many years ago making way for a large piazza, allowing Perth the opportunity to become a more cosmopolitan city.

The £2.6m would have gone a long way towards repairing some of the hundreds of potholes that motorist and motorcyclists encounter on a daily basis, putting drivers, their passengers and their vehicles at risk.

Wake up and smell the coffee councillors.

I feel you are falling down in your duty of care to council taxpayers big style. I shudder to think what the state of the roads would be had our councillors not received the support and co-operation from local residents.

We expect councillors to make sensible decisions on the future use of funds, not fritter them away on white elephant schemes like the city hall. Ronnie Hutcheson more action in the coming weeks.

Readers can stay in touch with our campaign for Nazanin and Anoosheh by visiting www.amnesty.org.uk/ campaign-update-nazanin-andanoosheh, where they can also watch our very moving 10 minute film with the families made shortly before Christmas.

Barrie Rutherford

Perth Amnesty Group