A committee of councillors has been advised to approve plans to expand Perth’s Food and Drink Park to provide more opportunities for jobs to be created locally in the future.
The local authority’s planning and development management committee has received a report recommending they permit officials to press on with creating more plots for businesses looking to establish themselves in the city or relocate from other areas.
The report says an area of just under 10 acres of undeveloped green space on the edge of the park nearest the River Almond east of the Highland Main Line railway will be prepared for further development under the consent being sought from the committee.
The document says: “The supporting high-level indicative design shows plots/development parcels off the access road, and this arrangement is considered to generally respect the character and amenity of the existing Food and Drink Park/employment area and its surroundings.
“Overall, the site is very well connected to the immediate and wider area; in terms of both vehicular and sustainable transport modes.
“Pedestrian, cycling and other sustainable links exist in the immediate vicinity, which the proposed development will connect with and provide future employees with multi-modal transport choices.
“These connections include green corridor links along the River Tay, into the centre of Perth when travelling east or Bertha Park and Almond Valley Village to the west.”
The report goes on to say of the anticipated economic impact of the proposed development: “During the construction period, jobs will be created, supporting indirect employment and revenue that this volume of construction activity will generate from employees spending on local goods and services.
“Longer term, direct employment opportunities and services in the area will be created and augmented by new employment facilities in this location.”
The document adds in its conclusion that the statutory period for further applications to be submitted to develop particular areas of the site will be extended from three years “to reflect the extended nature of the project timeline”.
It says: “This will allow the primary road, boundary landscaping and drainage to be delivered, alongside marketing of the site and the detailed designs to come forward by individual developers for each plot and the [relevant] planning conditions.”
The council’s planning committee will consider the report and its recommendation to approve the development during a virtual meeting next Wednesday (October 20).
