The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Council waives rates on troublesome buildings
BUSINESS: Administration hopes year of relief will attract regeneration
Cash incentives are being offered to new businesses willing to take on Perthshire’s most troublesome eyesore buildings.
Perth and Kinross Council has unveiled a scheme that will see it waive rates for a year in the hope of re-energising communities.
It has targeted 40 neglected properties including the Drummond Arms in Crieff, the former McEwens department store in Perth and Bank House in Pitlochry.
The rates relief would cost the local authority around £100,000 but backers believe the benefit could be priceless.
Council leader Ian Campbell said: “Empty buildings don’t do anyone any good. They don’t contribute to the economy and they have a negative impact on our city and towns.
“It is in the best interests of the whole area for the council to offer support to help new and growing businesses make use of these buildings.”
Big cash incentives are to be offered to get some of the most prominent “eyesore” buildings in Perth and Kinross back into use.
The council has drawn up a list of key dilapidated and dangerous properties it believes are damaging areas and holding them back.
After years of fruitless effort to breathe new life into some of the worst – such as the Drummond Arms Hotel in Crieff – its scheme would see rates waived for a full year.
It is hoped that will be enough to encourage businesses to choose a prominent empty site as its new home.
Council Leader Ian Campbell said the scheme was a “bold” response to dealing with some of the region’s most troublesome buildings, improving streets and reinvigorating local economies.
Speaking ahead of a meeting next week at which the scheme will be unveiled, he said: “The only way we can build business, jobs and skills is to be bold.
“Empty buildings don’t do anyone any good. They don’t contribute to the economy and they have a negative impact on the surrounding streetscape.
“It is in the best interests of the whole area for the council to offer support to help new and growing businesses make use of these buildings.
“We will now be offering those owners who have “eyesore” buildings an incentive to get them back into use.”
A report identifies 40 key buildings that could benefit from rates relief, many of which will be instantly recognisable.
They include the former McEwens department store, the Love’s Building, Harry’s Bar (formerly Sportsters), Lower City Mills and the Clachan and Quality Cafe in Perth, together with the Drummond Arms Hotel and Strathearn Hotel in Crieff.
Others are the Bank House on Pitlochry’s Atholl Road, the old toll houses on West Bridge Street and Dundee Road in Perth, the former Commercial Hotel in Errol and the Strathmore Hotel in Coupar Angus.
Mr Campbell added: “Bringing these prominent eyesore properties back into use has the potential to make a huge difference to our city and towns.
“Business growth is good for Perth and Kinross and support schemes like this demonstrate that Perth and Kinross is good for business.”
Empty buildings don’t do anyone any good. They don’t contribute to the economy and they have a negative impact on the surrounding streetscape