Crieff Community Action Plan 2013 / 2018 - History Repeats Itself !

 
 


Delighted to receive the  well laid out pamphlet regarding  the Crieff Action Plan . The problems  related in it  with regard to traffic and our acceptability of the discomfort  to shoppers and pedestrians is  certainly not a  new phenomenon ! I reproduce  a report dated May 1958 ( a mere 55 years ago !! ) which  certainly rings a few bells !

Stevenson - grandfather of RLS - drew up a plan in 1808 for the Perth to St Fillans Canal His  route by passed Crieff to the south With little  alteration  for subsequent development - a relief  road  on this line   would  appear to be the only  real solution to alleviate  a growing problem that will not  go away ! Compare the two docs - deja vu ?

http://maps.nls.uk/atlas/thomson/view/?rsid=74400160&sid=74400163&mid=531#rsid=74400160&mid=531&zoom=6&lat=28223.13929&lon=2108.34429&layers=BT

Crieff Community Action Plan

2013- 2018

Traffic

 
The A85  trunk road is the main east- west  between  Perth and Oban This road passes  through  the heart of Crieff The result is that Crieff’ s High street is often dominated  by large lorries and heavy goods vehicles In addition , Because of Crieff’s position , surrounded by farm land and woodland , it also common for large agricultural and forestry vehicles  to use Crieff’s High Street . Very narrow , poorly maintained pavements , inadequate parking provision , a lack of enforcement of on street parking restrictions and a lack of provision of loading bays frequently create a situation of grid lock in the town centre .The result is an unpleasant and sometimes  dangerous experience  for residents and visitors alike .

A study carried out by Dundee University in 2012 confirmed residents’ long standing concerns that the centre of Crieff is dominated  by vehicles and that inadequate attention has been given to the  safe flow  of pedestrians along and across the main High Street .

Given the likely increase  in population  of Crieff over the next decade  this situation  needs  to be addressed urgently .

 

Glasgow Herald 20 May 1958

Crieff Traffic Fears

“ Chaos “ Predicted

 
Giving evidence yesterday at the resumed  public enquiry into objections against th new proposed relief road for Crieff, Inspector James Scobie , Crieff said that if traffic volume doubled in 20 years time , it would mean stand still conditions in the town’s main street . Traffic had increased in recent years including the entry into the Burgh of  large numbers of touring coaches . In addition Loch Earn was being developed  for water skiing and boating and that would  bring more traffic through Crieff.

Mr James S McGavin, the County Councils Planning Officer said that if the volume of traffic was doubled in twenty years’ time , the position in Crieff ‘s main street would become chaotic .

Consideration  has been given to widening the main street but the cost of acquiring property to achieve that would be prohibitive .Proper by pass roads  were proposed  but rejected . In his opinion the relief road was the correct solution to the problem .The planning authority recognised that Crieff was  a holiday  centre and therefore decided to keep the relief road as close as possible to the existing shopping centre .

 

 

 

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