The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Council loses patience with eyesore owner
Perth: Promises have not been delivered and authority will press ahead with repairs
Perth and Kinross Council will carry out £400,000 of urgent repairs on a crumbling disused church building.
Despite the owner of St Paul’s Church in Perth, James Boyd, claiming he has been in talks to sell the eyesore, council inspectors recently used a cherry picker to check its condition and closed off the bottom of High Street as a precautionary measure.
A council spokesperson confirmed officials are ready to appoint a contractor and contract administrator to carry out the work, with the costs then being billed to Mr Boyd.
It is the latest twist in the saga that has beset the troubled former church, which closed its doors to the public almost 30 years ago.
Perth and Kinross Council lost patience with the Northern Irish-based businessman after he promised to employ workmen to cull hundreds of nesting pigeons that have created a health hazard at the building.
As a result, the local authority issued Mr Boyd with an urgent repairs notice ordering him to undertake the necessary work by June 1. However, an agreement was then reached after talks between Mr Boyd and a senior council officer whereby the entrepreneur stated he would start the work in early July.
No repair work has taken place and in a further twist, Mr Boyd last month told The Courier he had been in talks with the council concerning selling St Paul’s Church to another business.
The authority has stressed it is working towards a solution through the standard procurement process and confirmed this has been ongoing since the urgent repairs notice was issued.
Yesterday, a spokesperson confirmed inspectors had checked the condition of St Paul’s Church on Friday and that it looked likely that repair work will soon be carried out.
“We had a cherry picker out a few weeks ago but it wasn’t big enough for us to inspect the taller parts of the buildings so we had to hire a bigger one,” she said.
“We are monitoring the building ahead of the contractors going in to carry out the urgent repair works if Mr Boyd doesn’t take action to start the repairs first.”