MULTI-MILLION-POUND plans for a historic railway station have been described as “extravagant”.
With the 2014 Ryder Cup to take place at the prestigious Gleneagles golf course, it is hoped the local station can be utilised as a transport hub.
To do this, a £3 million link road with a pedestrian footway to the A9/A823 Loaninghead roundabout has been proposed, along with the creation of a turning circle and additional parking.
Although this work will help to improve road and pedestrian safety, chairman of Auchterarder and District Community Council Euan Mackintosh still has doubts over the cost implications of the ambitious project.
He has highlighted areas where he believed money was being spent unnecessarily.
“The link road is extravagantly wide at 6.5 metres,” he said.
“It is wider than the A823 Orchil Road, which is the main exit from Auchterarder on the southbound A9, and utilisation will, in the main, be one-way.
“This hardly justifies this size of road and a single track with passing places would be adequate.”
Mr Mackintosh also described the plans for the car park as “over-elaborate” and claimed it did not fully utilise the space available.
He criticised proposals to create a ramp up to the footbridge, claiming this would be “costly” and difficult to design, as well as “interfering” with the facade of the B-listed station building.
His solution is to bring the Crieff platform back into service, which he believes would provide wheelchair access to both platforms, as well as leaving the door open for this line to be reinstated despite being advised this was not on the cards.
Mr Mackintosh added: “We are wholly supportive of the link road but believe that the savings that can be made in land acquisition, construction costs on a narrower road and deleting the requirement for a bridge/ramp could, in cooperation with the Ryder Cup committee and ‘developer contribution’, enable the crossing of the A9 to be a permanent structure to the long- term benefit of Auchterarder residents and the Gleneagles Hotel.”
However, he was advised that there were no plans in the short or long term to extend the railway line back to Crieff.
Moving the report for approval, development management convener Tom Gray told his colleagues that the changes “couldn’t come quickly enough”.
He added: “The station has been regarded as a white elephant for a long time.
“This proposal gives it very good access, safer access, and it opens the thing up for much more use, as well as serving a far greater population than it has done in the recent past.”
sgray@thecourier.co.uk