The future of the popular Willowgate Fishery is still unclear three months after it was forced to close its doors.
While operator David Clarke has been taking part in discussions with planners from Perth and Kinross Council, there have been no decisions made yet.
However, he remains optimistic the Kinfauns business will be reinstated to one of the area’s top fishing venues.
Over the next few weeks he hopes to reach a compromise that would allow him to open on a “restricted” basis while the planning process is completed. This would mean that only anglers could use Willowgate Fishery and the cafe would remain closed to the public.
Mr Clarke told The Courier one of the main reasons he wanted to get people back on the site again was to discourage those who he claims are using the place as a camping ground.
“We have a problem because we created a path from Perth to the fishery which gave folks direct access from the town,” he said. “People are now camping and causing vandalism.
“We are maintaining the ground and will continue to maintain it to a high standard. Obviously, because no one is there all the time, we are suffering from vandalism so we are trying to find some sort of halfway point which will allow us to monitor access.”
Enforcement action was taken in January after Perth and Kinross Council found the fishery had breached planning controls by changing the original use of land. Since then, the Tay Salmon Fishing Company Ltd has been working on improving the access road, which was one of the areas of contention for locals.JobsConfident that this matter has now been resolved, Mr Clarke has been turning his mind to other matters, including working alongside planning officials to ensure any plans meet the required standards.
He also wants to recreate the 10 jobs lost when Willowgate closed and claimed that this could be done “overnight” if the local authority gave its approval.
This would have been one of the busiest times of year for the fishery and customers have still been showing an interest in the salmon cobbler boat rides to Elcho Castle.
He described this continued support as “amazing” and said he was heartened to see the Willowgate Fishery was still “very much” a live issue in people’s minds.
Mr Clarke added, “It is important to get this sorted because there are jobs there that could be providing work for people in the local area. At the moment, the cafe could be open for people on the boat trips, but not for those just visiting and that would make things a bit difficult.
“This would have been a peak time for us. But even if we were to put an application in now, it would take another eight weeks to dealt with.
“However, I want to do everything by the book so I don’t end up giving myself a bigger problem than what I have already.
“We are still trying and there is hope that things will get resolved so we can open again, because I believe in what we have done.”
Photo courtesy of www.taysalmon.co.uk