Murdo Fraser MSP has said he was “encouraged” by the Deputy First Minister agreeing that the planning process to enable commercial properties in Perth to become residential should be looked at.
The Scottish Conservative politician recently raised the issue with Kate Forbes through a supplementary question asked during a Portfolio Question on the Economy and Gaelic at the Scottish Parliament. He feels this proposal could revitalise Perth City Centre.
Speaking during the Portfolio session, Mr Fraser said: “In town and city centres including Perth in my region there are a large number of former commercial properties which will never come back into use for retail - where they could potentially be converted into residential property.
“However, the current process for doing that is cumbersome, is bureaucratic, expensive and is time consuming. Can the Scottish Government look at some way that you can streamline the planning process to make it easier for the owners of these properties to transfer them from commercial use to residential?”
Speaking after the Portfolio session, Mr Fraser commented: “I was encouraged by the response from the Deputy First Minister, who told the Chamber she agreed with a ‘number of the points’ I had raised.
“She said she had great memories of Perth town centre and spoke of the potential to revitalise the present town centre. She spoke of a current consultation taking place regarding compulsory purchase properties and added that she would be welcome any suggestions on how to change the planning process to change the use of former commercial properties into residential ones.
“This is a very big issue in Perth at the moment so it would be ideal to have some progress on this matter.”
