Fury at £100,000 street lights plan for council HQ

ROW: Officials accused of “sitting in ivory towers”

A bid to install £100,000 “olde worlde” street lights as part of a controversial council HQ refurbishment has been branded “a joke”.

Just months after Perth and Kinross Council came under fire for spending £150,000 on furniture for councillors it has emerged another six-figure sum will go on a handful of street lights.

Council officials pushed through the “heritage lighting” scheme in a bid to improve their main offices in Perth’s High Street.

Perthshire North election candidate Murdo Fraser accused the SNP administration of “feathering their own nests” while local business owner Kairen Ruse accused them of “sitting in ivory towers”.

A council spokesperson said the lighting would “reinforce the attractiveness and ambience within the city”.

Perth and Kinross Council is under fire after it was revealed around £100,000 will be spent on external lighting at its refurbished headquarters.

Murdo Fraser, who is standing for the Perthshire North seat at Holyrood, accused the SNP administration of “feathering their own nests,” after it was revealed the large sum had been earmarked for “heritage lighting”.

The local authority was previously attacked for spending an estimated £850,000 on refurbishing its chambers at 2 High Street, Perth, including a controversial £150,000 for new chairs and tables for councillors.

Councillor Ian Campbell told The Courier the new lighting, which is to be modelled on old-fashioned street lights, was not previously announced by the council “for obvious reasons”.

He claimed the council are now “running around” to find money to pay for the project after making cuts to other services.

“Plans to build the lights were lodged around three months ago and the matter was quietly passed by council officers,” he said.

Mr Fraser was equally scathing about the local SNP group.

He said: “At a time when savings are being made across all budgets, the SNP have thought it wise to spend a cool £100,000 on lights at the council HQ despite already splashing out £150,000 on new chairs and tables.

“ln February, the SNP group hit pensioners in the pocket by lowering the income threshold for receiving personal care, yet here we are three months later and the council appears to be awash with cash when it comes to smartening up their High Street HQ.”

Kairen Ruse, owner of Blues & Brown ladies’ clothes shop in South Street, Perth, previously labelled the council chambers revamp “a vanity” project for council leaders.

She said the lack of disclosure on lighting was “beyond the joke”.

“Where is this money coming from to pay for this, and why spend money on themselves when we can’t attract people to Perth? Who do the council think they are?” she said.

A council spokeswoman said: “External lighting at the bottom of the High Street is being provided as a pilot project in respect of proposed investment in lighting initiatives across the city, as identified, in the Perth City Plan.

“The new external lighting will create a gateway leading from the High Street to Tay Street where people will be able to move at night and feel that they are in a safe, well-lit environment.”

Where is the money coming from to pay for this, and why spend money on themselves when we can’t attract people to Perth? KAIREN RUSE LOCAL BUSINESS OWNER