Perth and Kinross Council will carry out £400,000 of urgent repairs on a crumbling disused church building.
Despite the owner of St Paul’s Church in Perth claiming he has been in talks to sell the eyesore, council inspectors recently used a cherrypicker to check its condition and closed off the bottom of High Street as a precautionary measure.
A council spokesperson confirmed officials are ready to appoint a contractor and contract administrator to carry out the work, with the costs then being billed to owner James Boyd.
It is the latest twist in the sage which has beset the troubled former church, which closed its doors to the public almost 30 years ago.
Perth and Kinross Council lost patience with Northern Irish-based businessman Mr Boyd after he promised to employ workmen to cull hundreds of nesting pigeons that have created a health hazard at the building.
As a result, the local authority issued Mr Boyd with an urgent repairs notice ordering him to undertake the necessary repairs by June 1. However, an agreement was then reached following talks between Mr Boyd and a senior council officer whereby the entrepreneur stated he would start the work in early July.
No repair work has taken place and in a further twist, Mr Boyd last month told The Courier he had been in talks with the council concerning selling St Paul’s Church to another business.
Perth and Kinross Council has stressed it is working towards a solution through the standard procurement process and confirmed this has been ongoing following the urgent repairs notice being issued.
Yesterday, a council spokesperson confirmed inspectors had checked the condition of St Paul’s Church on Friday past and that it looked likely that repair work will soon be carried out.
“We had a cherrypicker out a few weeks ago but it wasn’t big enough for us to inspect the taller parts of the buildings so we had to hire a bigger one,” she said.
“We are monitoring the building ahead of the contractors going in to carry out the urgent repair works if Mr Boyd doesn’t take action to start the repairs first.”
