We Asked, You Said, We Did

We proposed a sketch design which showed the locations of the 5 new items of play equipment, the 2 existing items which were to be kept, the new seating area and play mounds. We asked for your comments on the overall design, your likes and dislikes.

There were 25 responses to the consultation which was quite a low figure, however the majority (16 responses) were happy with the sketch design as proposed.

The main areas of concern were:

• Not enough equipment for 5-12 year olds
• Dog poo
• Poor lighting

In response to the lack of kit for 5-12 year olds, we've made some changes to our original play area design to make sure we can focus on what matters most—adding more fun!

Instead of doing as much groundwork, we've adjusted the layout so we can use our budget to bring in extra equipment, including monkey bars - a popular request in the consultation and a brand-new tyre swing to replace the old one.

The comments regarding dog poo have been passed to the Dog Warden team who will visit and make an appraisal.

Unfortunately, additional street lighting was outwith the scope and budget of this play area refurbishment.  However, we are currently looking at the viability of solar street lighting to add to future play area developments.  In the meantime we’ll note this play area as having a potential need and revisit it at a later date.

We’ll now put this out to tender and see if we can get some work on the ground by Summer 2025.  You can view the revised sketch design using the related documents link.

We gave tenants a choice of three rent level increases for 2025/26, alongside details of what each option would mean for investment in their housing services: 

• A 6% rent increase 
• A 6.5% rent increases
• A 7.5% rent increase 

A total of 3,055 tenants took part in the consultation - the highest ever total in the eight years that we have been running this annual consultation. 

64% of tenants chose a 6% rent increase for 2025/26.

25% chose a 6.5% rent increase, and 11% chose a 7.5% increase.

As a result, a 6% rent increase is being recommended for 2025/26 reflecting tenants’ views.

This proposal will be considered at a meeting of the Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee on Wednesday 22nd January 2025.

The proposed changes would result in an average weekly rent increase of £4.78 per week, bringing the average weekly rent to £84.52. Perth and Kinross would maintain the 4th lowest council rent in Scotland, £7.87 below the projected Scottish local authority average.

A final decision on rent levels for 2025/26 will be made by the Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee at a meeting on Wednesday 22nd January 2025.

As a result of the Food Growing Strategy 2021, which identified areas with a demand for community food growing, we asked what type of community food growing areas are needed, if any sites have been identified as suitable for this purpose and if the current community food growing provision provided by the Pitlochry Garden Share scheme satisfies the identified demand from 2021.

We received 12 responses through the consultation hub and one response from the paper copies provided at the Atholl Centre. As their preferred site;

• 5 people requested an allotment site,
• 3 people requested a community garden,
• 2 people requested a community orchard and woodland,
• 1 person requested an urban farm,
• 1 person requested wheelchair accessible raised beds,
• 1 person did not specify

You said that the most important benefits of community food growing to you personally area are reducing the use of pesticides, better nutritional value and taste and increasing local food provision in the local community.

Four people already knew about the existing community food growing provision of the community garden run by the Pitlochry Garden Share organisation, four people were unaware of any other existing provision and five people did not specify.

After analysing the responses we found that whilst there is demand for a community food growing area this demand is not sufficient enough to take forward a project at this time and we encourage those who are looking to becoming involved in food growing to visit the Pitlochry Garden Share organisation’s community garden on Manse Road.

For your comments on the proposed disposal of several items of Common Good moveable property, which have been historically held at the Council premises at 1-5 High Street, Perth.

Two responses were received, which indicated a willingness to dispose of the majority of the items, subject to the retention of a number of the Baillie's chairs.

Proceed with the disposal of these items by auction. The Council have retained two chairs that belonged to the Baillie of the former Burgh Council. The remaining items shall be sold in the near future.

Following an onsite consultation with the Friends of Legion Park in 2023, we produced a concept masterplan for the site including the play facilities.  We then ran a further consultation from August to September 2024 asking for your views on the design.

We received 94 responses through the consultation hub with a small number of others providing feedback through other means.

The responses were extremely positive overall, and raised a number of themes for us to consider in more detail as we develop the detailed design. These themes include the provision of sensory and inclusive play equipment, as well as accessibility and seating in the park. The consultation also touched on issues regarding grass management in line with PKC’s Grow Wild scheme and increasing tree planting in the park, and there appears to be a high level of support for incorporating these changes into the masterplan design. This will hopefully lead to a reduction in maintenance in the park as well as increasing biodiversity and adding aesthetic improvements to the park.

The comments and feedback from the consultation are currently being discussed and the outcome of these discussions will inform the next stage of the design process, which will see the masterplan design amended to take the key themes into consideration.’

For your thoughts on the council’s approach to Nature Networks and Biodiversity Enhancement, and telling us your projects, nature rich sites and enhancement opportunities that could be part of a nature network.

Please see the results section for a report on the responses.

The information has assisted in developing interim biodiversity guidance and will inform our approach to nature networks in the coming months. A full review of Planning for Nature Guidance next year will also be informed by this.

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 Alyth community about:

• the flood risk from the Alyth Burn and smaller watercourses (Doctor's and Johnshill Burns)
• the findings of the Alyth Natural Flood Management study
• other actions to raise awareness and improve community flood resilience

Feedback was received during the community drop-in events and online consultation.  A Q&A report has been produced addressing the comments received.

The Councilwill now finalise the Alyth NFM study 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.

For your comments on the on the proposed extension of a lease to Scottish Water of land at Friarton Road, Perth for the purpose of a sludge reception centre.

No responses were received.

Proceed with the process of extending the lease.

We asked whether the public would prefer the former toilet block in Auchterarder would be better used as a community run public toilet/art gallery, or as a community banking hub.

55% of respondents said they would support the use of the toilet block for a community run public toilet/art gallery.

We collated responses and considered these alongside the business proposals for the two projects. A decision has been taken to progress the banking hub.

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.

The Perth & Kinross Primary Care Premises Strategy was approved by the P&K Integrated Joint Board (IJB) in June 2023.

Perth & Kinross Primary Care Team set out a Communication, Participation and Engagement Plan to support delivery of the Premises Strategy.

This includes collaboration and involvement with our community stakeholders in the planning, design and delivery of how and where we deliver services through a co-production & co-design approach. Service users can provide valuable perspectives on the state of practice premises and their ability to meet the needs of the service.

Accessibility, functionality, and comfort emerge as central themes, emphasising the importance of creating premises that are easily accessible, well-equipped, and conducive to positive patient experiences.

Integration of services in these premises is paramount, facilitating seamless collaboration among healthcare providers and offering comprehensive care locally. There are many other important themes and detailed feedback, which can be explored further in the full report.

Based on the consultation findings, we are implementing an action plan to improve primary care premises across Perth & Kinross with a focus on targeted funding and practice-specific initiatives. We will continue engaging with stakeholders to ensure ongoing collaboration and feedback.

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.