Cathedral and kirk granted cash funding to help with vital repairs

Perth’s historic churches have been given a financial helping hand from the city’s common good fund.

Despite some reservations, the committee agreed to award a grant of £30,000 to a major restoration project at St Ninian’s Cathedral, a grade A listed building.

The total costs for the work are £3.5 million and the first phase will make the building waterproof, with attention then turning to the stonework and stained glass.

The idea is to turn the cathedral into a centre for community activity.

The project has already secured £144,900 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £96,700 from Historic Environment Scotland and a further £250,000 is coming from church funds.

Councillor Dave Doogan said that while it was a very worthy cause he wondered if the sum asked for was appropriate, given it represented a significant amount of the money available to give out this year.

He proposed they make it £10,000 but after hearing from ward councillors Peter Barrett and Andrew Parrott, who supported the larger sum, he withdrew his motion.

The common good fund also agreed to make a grant of £10,000 towards the costs of emergency stonework repairs to St John’s Kirk.

A report to the committee said the building has just had a major restoration project amounting to £3.75 million but during a stonework inspection, unplanned emergency repairs have been identified. The total costs for the repairs are £40,000.

The committee unanimously agreed the request for £10,000.