Well life is so different from the last time I wrote an article for the Bridge around the turn of the year.
2020 will be remembered throughout history now, hopefully as the year Covid 19 struck and was then vanquished but of course that outcome is not certain.
It has been heartening to see local communities pull together to help each other through such difficult times, I am sure that if we face another spike and lockdown the Community effort will return as strong as before to combat the adversity that many people will face.
Council business carries on but in a totally different format. 2 High St. closed down in March and we all suddenly had to become tech experts dealing with meetings through virtual platforms such as zoom or Microsoft teams. Children and Grandchildren were pressganged into helping some of us learn how to communicate in this more modern way.
The Chief Executive was granted Executive powers enabling her to make decisions without everything having to go through Council meetings to be ratified. Political differences were put aside and one representative from each Group sat on a weekly Sounding Board to help with decision making and messaging of these decisions. None of us would claim that we got everything right but on the whole I think the Council staff who were redeployed from there usual positions to frontline positions did a fantastic job. This was augmented by the brilliant job done by volunteers and communities in general who made the greatest effort to help their fellow citizens. I personally would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the effort locally.
Things are slowly returning to some sort of new normal in Council land.
Executive powers have been rescinded and decisions now again rest with Elected Members. On 30th September there will be an update of the Revenue Budget where the current in year Budget will be updated to provide an insight as to the impact that Covid has had on he Council finances. It will be very important day also because the Capital Budget will be looked at and it will be decided if several large projects should be paused or given the green light to proceed at this time.
Projects such as the CTLR (cross tay road link), Perth City Hall project, Blairgowrie Recreation centre renewal, Perth High School renewal are among those to be discussed.
One other memorable thing about 2020 was the fantastic natural light show we were treated to on a Summer evening. The flooding that followed caused great damage to Perth Leisure pool and 2 High St. was hit by lightning doing damage and letting water course through the building. Many households unfortunately also had to deal with the after effects of the unprecedented nights rainfall.
Hopefully the outlook will be brighter when it is my turn to write again in 3 months. In the meantime stay safe everyone, follow the guidelines and look after each other. Having been struck with the virus in Feb/March and taking 12 weeks to fully recover any doubts I had about how severe it can be were dispelled.
Best Wishes. Grant Laing

Councillor Grant Laing
Local SNP Councillor, Strathtay Ward 5
glaing@pkc.gov.uk or Tel: 07881 500501 or 01738 475023