Tay Street sewer work is news to business owners in Perth

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Business owners based in Perth ’s Tay Street have spoken of the sleepless nights they have experienced worrying how plans to dig the street up for sewer works might impact on trade.

Graeme Pallister of restaurant 63 Tay Street and Cameron Grassick of Robert Cameron Hair, told the PA this week they received the “bombshell” news that Scottish Water was preparing to seal off parts of the street and dig it up for the best part of a year just over seven weeks ago.

The pair say they cannot understand why no-one from Scottish Water or Perth and Kinross Council thought to give them any further advance warning of the project given the likely impact partial closures of the street and the actual sewer works is bound to have on their businesses.

Both men fear their customers will be put off by the disruption, valued parking spaces right outside their business will be lost during road closures and any resulting dip in trade over the time it takes Scottish Water to finish the works will force them to close up for good.Graeme and Robert have both filed formal objections to Scottish Water’s application for planning permission to carry out the works being approved by PKC but it was unclear yesterday whether the application will be determined by officers under delegated powers or by a council committee.“The thing that hacks me off is throughout this entire process there hasn’t been one representative from PKC that has come forward to speak to businesses,” said Cameron.“We’ve had two-and-a-half years of Covid, we’ve had seven months of lockdown, we’ve had to restart our businesses twice over that time, we’re now in a cost-of-living crisis where the cost of our supplies is going through the roof and now this.“We’re not unreasonable people