In response to my letter to my local Councillors at PKC I have had a phone
call from Cllr Hayton who is deputy leader of the Council.

He has spoken with various councillors and officers and confirms what Liz
Connacher told us that at the present time there is no intention In Perth
Council to implement the license requirement for Free arts events.

He did of course conceded that he couldn’t speak for the Councillors who
might be elected at the May elections. However, his view is that there would
not be change to Licensing in Perth without a full consultation of
interested parties. He did hope that Perth would continue to take a
reasoned and fair approach. He said he is willing to make the issue a
personal election pledge.

This is very re-assuring as far as it goes, but I would urge artists not to
be complacent and make sure that at any opportunity you ask any local
election candidates where they stand on the issue to make sure that any
incoming Councillors are fully aware of its impact if implemented.

If this does get implemented – and Ayrshire Council have reportedly already
declared that they intend to – the effect on all of us will be huge. I
also urge artists in other counties to approach their own Councillors to
make them aware of the situation. The petition set up in Edinburgh reached
11,000 signatures in about 3 days which shows the amount of concern there
is right across all the arts.

The Birnam Hill path works recommenced a couple of weeks ago when the snow had melted sufficiently.  By the end of week 4 Feb, weather permitting, the whole job was scheduled to be largely complete. The steps had been rebuilt in November just before they were covered by snow, but are now visible (see photo 1).

Two weeks ago the contractors built the causeway over the marsh on the top of the hill (photos 2, 3, 4). This has not been done as agreed with the working group. I sent the following email to PKCT:–

The causeway over the marsh has not been built as you said it would. I seem to remember you saying that a bed of larch logs and drainage pipes would be laid on the marsh, then locally sourced material built up on top to create the raised path. This would allow the underlying water to naturally flow under/through the path without disturbing the water table.
What I could see is a ditch collecting the water and taking it to 3 pipes at the north end of the causeway. No sign of larch logs or pipes along the length of the causeway (see photos). What is your reasoning behind this?

And received the following reply:–

The specification for the causeway on Birnam hill was modified slightly to take account of the higher water table following the snow melt, and the severe frost that was in the ground during the work. The causeway does have larch timbers below the built up causeway under the as dug material from beside the site along the softer section. It was never considered necessary to extend the timber platform the full length of the causeway as the southern end is on much firmer ground. The ditch was excavated to allow work to be carried out and for the causeway to dry out and firm up for its long term stability. Replacement of some vegetation turfs on the side of the causeway was not possible at the time due to the frozen ground. It is intended that this will be done during a milder spell when the frost has come out of the ground. The replacement of side turfs will soften the side ditch and slow the water flow through the pipes placed under the causeway allowing the regrowth of wetland vegetation in the ditch itself. Over time this will this will obstruct the drainage pipes and the ditch sufficiently to allow the water table to return the higher level.  As this causeway is above this level it should remain firm and dry in almost all conditions.

Work is currently underway on the steep north side path. On the lower bulldozed section they are creating drainage ditches, and have made short narrow zig-zags up the very steep section (see photo 5). On the upper ‘saved’ section of path they have made minor ‘improvements’ (see photos 6 & 7) and they are in the process of strimming heather – PKCT’s explanation:–

As the existing path on the ascent/decent on the north side is eroded in places, it was agreed that we would strim a new line to allow users to take a different route allowing some of the worst eroded bits to regenerate and recover. It is the intention to strim a new route through the open area of bracken on the south side of the existing path from where the machines stopped. This will then be clearer, although we accept that because of the time of year this route will not be as clear as it would have been when the bracken was higher. It is possible that we will need to revisit this once growth has returned. Hopefully the line of the alternative route will be clearer once strimming has been done. It is noticeable that the line of the path has changed at numerous times in the past, and during the spell of ice and snow, the desire lines to avoid the existing path line were noticeable in the snow. These lines helped to identify the preferred route on the steepest sections. We hope that the group will encourage the use of the alternative route so that the eroded sections will get the chance to recover. It may be that, once this happened, the path may return to on, or nearer to, the existing route.

The bulldozed sections of path are extremely muddy and slippy just now, take care.

Photography: Grahame Nicoll

Regarding the previous post, Biggest Pavement Awards, I received the following response from Perth & Kinross Council on 22nd November. I made the fifth paragraph bold. Sorry about the delay in posting this.

I refer to your email which was received by the Council’s Customer Service Centre this morning.

The works being carried out were agreed in full consultation with the Community Council and Elected Members. The school was also involved as part of the school travel planning process.

The works include widening the footway and narrowing the junction bellmouth. We had received concerns about the size of the junction, difficulties crossing the road because of this and the restricted visibility with parked cars, and vehicle speeds.

The scheme will improve the safety for pedestrians and encourage lower vehicles speeds on the main road. It does not affect parking but improves visibility for pedestrians.

It had been the intention to send out consultation letters to the adjacent properties but it would appear that the Officer in charge of the scheme did not do this. He had thought there had been sufficient consultation through the Community Council and Elected Members. I can only apologise for this.

In terms of costs, the order value of the works is £7066.34

If I can be of any more assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Jillian Robinson
Principal Engineer (Traffic & Road Safety)
The Environmental Service
Perth & Kinross Council

If there was a Biggest Pavement Award for the Birnam and Dunkeld area it would surely go to the extended pavement opposite the Spar in Station Road, Birnam. This seems to have been imposed upon us by Higher Beings without consultation, and I have emailed PKC and our local Councillor regarding this.

Regardless of the costs, who in his/her right mind thought that this was a good idea?

By the way, did anyone notice the improvements to the “road” along Birnam Terrace/Gladstone Terrace? Half-hearted to say the least. And there’s still no pavement there whatsoever, nor any signs to limit the speed of traffic.