Locals must travel four miles to village for vote

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If you don’t have a car, you can’t really get there

undreds of residents in Perth’s new £1 billion housing estate will have to travel four miles to vote in tomorrow’s Scottish Parliament election.

Concerns have been raised that people in Bertha Park without a postal vote will have to get all the way to Luncarty to choose their new MSP.

Strathtay councillor Grant Laing said people without a car and those who do not know the area well could have problems exercising their democratic right.

Bertha Park residents have had to vote at Luncarty Memorial Hall since December 2019.

However, Perth and Kinross Council has now said a polling station revision “may be required”.

Mr Laing believes that while postal voting is an option, Bertha Park residents should be able to vote in person closer to where they live.

He said: “If you don’t have a car, you can’t really get there.

“There has to be a nearer polling station.

“Some of the Bertha Park residents have never been to Luncarty so they don’t know where the polling station is.”

He added: “It is just to make people aware to watch where they are going.”

Perth and Kinross Council says that it “may” be necessary to review polling arrangements in response to the growth of the Bertha Park area.

A spokesman for the local authority said: “The council approved the list of polling districts and polling places on December 18 2019, which included a public consultation on polling arrangements.

“At that time, the Bertha Park area was included in the polling district (SBB) that would see voters continue to vote at Luncarty Memorial Hall, which has been the case since residents began moving into the new development a number of years ago.

“The council is aware that with the increase in residents in the Bertha Park area, a revision to polling arrangements may be required in the medium term and this will be kept under review.”

Bertha Park has seen rapid growth over recent years with new housing developments and a secondary school.

In March, construction on the area’s newest housing development began, which will see 71 new homes built.

In August 2019, pupils in the area were welcomed into Bertha Park High School for the first time.

The £32.5 million school was the first nonreplacement school built in Scotland in more than 20 years. A new £14m primary school in the area was subsequently approved by local councillors.

JOURNEY: Residents of Bertha Park in Perth are being instructed to vote at Luncarty Memorial Hall – four miles away. Picture by Steve Macdougall.