We Asked, You Said, We Did

We asked you to tell us what your priorities for rent spending were for 2025/26 across your Housing Services.

Over 1,200 of our tenants responded, which is a record amount for this annual consultation.

You can view the results of the consultation below.

The results were fed back to tenants who attended the Summer Tenants' Conference on June 27th 2024.

Further discussions were held at the event about the results and what services tenants want to see.

Your feedback will allow us to put together some rent level options for 2025/26 that will go out for consultation with tenants in November and December 2024. You will be able to vote for your preferred rent level during this consultation. 

The results on the rent level consultation will be included in a report to the Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee in January 2025, where a final decision on 2025/26 rent levels will be made.

We asked the Blairgowrie & Rattray community about:

• the flood risk from surface water and the Rattray Burn
• the findings of the Blairgowrie & Rattray SWMP
• other actions to raise awareness and improve community flood resilience

A significant volume of feedback was received and has been captured in a public consultation report. This feedback was generally positive and a number of different concerns/queries were raised. The Q&A report sets out the feedback received, and the Council's answers to the questions posed. 

The Council will now update and finalise the Blairgowrie & Rattray SWMP and report the conclusions to the next available Climate Change and Sustainability Committee. Thereafter, the Council will implement the recommendations of the reports (subject to funding and any statutory approvals). The Council will carry out further consultation with the community as proposals are further developed.

As part of the requirement in the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 we have a duty to include the opinions of the community in the decision process when leasing any property which has Common Good status.

We asked whether or not the café at MacRosty Park pavilion should be leased out to a café operator.

We received 108 responses from 10/01/2024 to 11/02/2024.

There were 101 responses in favour of using the facilities for a café, 3 responses provided other suggestions and 4 responses were not specific.

After considering all of the views, we decided to lease the pavilion facilities to a café operator.

You can read more about our decision here New MacRosty Park cafe operators ready to welcome business and on our Facebook page

For comments on the proposed lease of a shop at 2 Noth Port, Perth.

No comments were received.

PKC proceeded with the proposed lease.

What our tenants thought the rent level increase should be for 2024/25, based on proposed investment in Housing Services and the financial pressures facing the Housing Revenue Account (HRA).

A total of 2,944 tenants responded to the consultation – 36.7% of our tenants.

Over half - 58.6% - chose a 6% rent increase from the three options presented.

As the majority of tenants preferred a 6% rent increase, this was proposed in a report to a meeting of the Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee on 24th January 2024.

Councillors accepted the proposal, and a 6% rent increase will come into effect from 1st April 2024.

Your thoughts on a new Tenant Participation Strategy for Perth and Kinross.

Tenant feedback that has informed the strategy priorities, opportunities to get involved and implementation:: 

“A change is required to move away from traditional approaches including change in culture across tenants and staff”.

“We need to interest more people in getting involved through changing activities and building trust”.

“We need to find ways to make sure everyone has a say – young people or people with support needs can be hard to reach”.

“People care about their home and community. We need to sell the benefits of getting involved to more people”.

A Tenant Conference was held in January to start formulating the vision of the strategy and open to all tenants with staff representation from Falkirk Council and a tenant representative from Kingdom Housing Association attending to share best practice, knowledge and experience.

The vision that was agreed was: "Tenant participation in P&K offers everyone an opportunity to work together, be listened to and influence decisions on the issues which matter most to you to improve outcomes".

This reflects the main focus four strategy priorities; a change of Tenant Participation culture, improved communication between PKC and tenants, tenants having a say in housing decisions and working with communities to make change.

A final Steering Group meeting was held in April to provide feedback to the draft strategy, overall, it was agreed that the content of the strategy is reflective of the steering groups input and the outcomes are achievable.

It was agreed by the steering group that the annual performance review and evaluation holds all staff and elected members accountable in achieving positive outcomes for tenants, neighbourhoods and improved communication.

The new draft Tenant Participation Strategy will be considered by the Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee in June 2024.

For comments on the Lease of Perth Museum (formerly Perth City Hall) St John's Place, Perth by PKC to Culture Perth & Kinross.

No comments were received.

The lease was agreed.

The Council and RPS consulted with the community on:

• The risk of flooding in south Kinross
• The Council's proposals for a flood scheme
• Other action to raise awareness of flood risk and improve flood resilience

The response to the consultation was generally positive with the majority of the community being supportive of the proposed outline design for the flood scheme.

The public consultation on the outline design is now complete and a public consultation report has been produced to highlight how feedback ahs been addressed. The flood scheme will therefore be published under the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act in 2020 and the Council will notify all affected landowners and residents at that time.

For comments on the proposed sale of Wellmeadow House, Gas Brae, Blairgowrie.

No comments were received.

The Council completed the proposed sale of Wellmeadow House.

For your views on the principle of introducing a short-term let control area for Highland Perthshire and parts of Eastern Perthshire, and whether you had any suggestions on how to improve the draft guidance.

A wide range of views on the principle of a short-term let control area and on the draft guidance were received from individuals, businesses and organisations.

Several changes were made to the guidance following the consultation and the finalised guidance was approved by the Environment, Infrastructure and Economic Development Committee on 1 November 2023. This will now be used to help assess and determine planning applications for changes of use from a house or flat to a short-term let. A further report on the principle and evidence for designating a short-term let control area will go to the Committee early in 2024.

For your views on the draft Supplementary Guidance for Developer Contributions & Affordable Housing to support Local Development Plan 2 (2019) policy 5 and policy 20.

A range of comments, broadly supportive of the proposed guidance, which largely carries forward the existing Supplementary Guidance (adopted in 2020).

Some changes were made to the guidance following the consultation and the finalised guidance was approved by the Environment, Infrastructure and Economic Development Committee on 20 September 2023. The revised Guidance (as presented to Committee) has now been submitted to Scottish Ministers for consideration. Further updates will be published on the Supplementary Guidance webpage for Developer Contributions & Affordable Housing.

We sought participation in our online survey on the Den o’ Alyth Management Plan so as to identify a list of prioritised improvement projects and upgrades to be implemented in the coming years. We asked about working in partnership with communities and welcomed comments, impressions and suggestions. 

We received a number of comments on a variety of countryside management-related issues, and on visitor experiences in the Den all of which were processed to help inform the Plan

The comments and feedback received were taken into account when writing the latest draft of the Management Plan. This will assist with the future implementation of the Plan and help to programme these projects and upgrades depending on our budgets and resource. 

We asked the Craigie Burn catchment community about:

• the flood risk from the Craigie Burn (and other tributaries/sources)
• the findings of the Craigie Burn flood study
• other actions to raise awareness and improve community flood resilience

A significant volume of feedback was received and has been captured in a public consultation report. This sets out the feedback received, and the Council's answers to the questions posed. 

The recommended option has been submitted to SEPA for prioritisation and will hopefully be included within the national priority list of flood schemes. The scheme has been put forward for inclusion within the next Tay Flood Risk Management Strategy and Local Flood Risk Management Plan (covering the period from 2028 to 2034), subject to suitable funding being in place. The feedback received will be considered further during future work on the study recommendations.

We asked the public to comment on a draft licensing policy statement.

Five consultation responses were received on a variety of issues contained within the draft licensing policy statement.

A Report was prepared and placed before Perth and Kinross Licensing Board on 27 September. That report included all consultation responses. The Board then decided the full terms of its Licensing Policy Statement to apply from 5 November 2023 to 5 November 2028.

1. To what extent do you agree/disagree that the report explains why we need a Mobility Strategy for Perth and Kinross?
2. To what extent do you agree/disagree that the report provides adequate information about how people and goods move around in Perth and Kinross?
3. To what extent do you agree/disagree that the report identifies the key problems and opportunities across our existing transport network?
4. Are there any other suggestions that you think you should mention regarding the emerging Mobility Strategy?

The Let’s Talk Trasport report received 67 responses and shown positive support to our report and its presented evidence. This information was used to inform the draft Mobility Strategy, which got committee approval at the begingin of May 2024.

1. Strong support was visible for the need to develop a Mobility Strategy, backed by evidence. This evidence influenced the development of the draft Mobility Strategy. After receiving feedback, more emphasis has been placed on addressing climate concerns and emissions in the draft.
2. Information was shared in a simple, non-technical manner with complete transparency regarding the links and sources of each dataset. This approach was well-received in the feedback, so it has been consistently used throughout the development of the Mobility Strategy.
3. Overall, there was evident support for addressing the issues and opportunities outlined in the report. However, some gaps were identified and taken into consideration during the development of the draft Mobility Strategy. Emphasis has been placed on costs, accessibility, and public transport, particularly within the formulated Objectives (also referred to as Transport Planning Objectives).
4. A variety of comments and considerations have been incorporated into the development of the draft Mobility Strategy, which will soon be available for Public Consultation.

What your priorities were for rent spending for the period 2024/25.

A total of 469 tenants responded. 

You can read the results below.

The feedback was discussed with tenants at our Tenant Summer Roadshow events in June 2023.

All the comments received then fed into proposals for three rent level options which we consulted tenants on in November and December 2023.

For the public to comment on the proposal for a lease to be granted to Taste Talk Limited for the commercial property at 2 North Port, Perth.  

There were no responses received.  

Taste Talk Ltd have not progressed to enter into a lease of the property.  

To help us prepare a new Management Plan for Black Spout Wood, we asked local residents and visitors how often they used the woods, what they liked to do while they were there, what they liked and disliked about the woods at present and how we might make improvements.  

We received 98 responses to the consultation. Most respondents were local residents and visited the woods on foot. Many were dog walkers. We received lots of positive feedback about the site and the way it is now. There was also useful feedback about providing information to help get around the site, the paths, and the management of the site more generally.

All the feedback received will help us to put together a new Management Plan to take us forward to 2028.  In due course, those of you who asked to be kept informed will be consulted again once we've put together a draft Management Plan. 

At the time of this initial consultation the Pitlochry & Moulin Community Council was in abeyance.  It's hoped that we can engage with the new Community Council so as to review the draft Management Plan once it's ready.

To help us prepare a new Management Plan for Rumbling Bridge, we asked local residents and visitors how often they used the woods, what they liked to do while they were there, what they liked and disliked about the woods at present and how we might make improvements.  

We received 128 responses to the consultation. Most respondents were local residents and visited the woods on foot.  We received lots of positive feedback about the gorge but there are clearly aspects which could be better. There was useful feedback covering a number of issues including several responses relating to access to and accessibility within the site.                    

All the feedback received will help us to put together a new Management Plan to take us forward to 2028.  In due course, those of you who asked to be kept informed will be consulted again once we've put together a draft Management Plan.

For comments on the Council’s draft Common Good Register. Under the terms of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, every Local Authority in Scotland is duty bound to prepare and publish a comprehensive register of all Common Good assets within their ownership.

The Council received five responses. The Council received three responses from members of the public, and a further two responses from community/elected representatives. The Council considered these responses and revised the draft Register to account for any amendments suggested to the draft by the public.

The Council completed the Common Good Register and published it online. The Register is to be updated every five years, and it is the Council’s intention to include moveable property in the Register in the near future.