0:00:04 > 0:00:08I've seen towns explode into cities.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11I've seen towns with their hearts ripped out.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15Every town has its own tales of triumph and catastrophe.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17All of them face challenges.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20As a geographer, I believe that towns
0:00:20 > 0:00:22are the communities of the future.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26Towns will be the places we want to live.
0:00:27 > 0:00:33By 2030, a staggering 92% of us will be living the urban life.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37Congested cities sprawl across our map,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40but cities don't have all the answers.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43I believe we need to fall back in love with the places
0:00:43 > 0:00:47that first quickened our pulses - towns.
0:00:51 > 0:00:57Smaller than a city, more intimate, much greener, more surprising,
0:00:57 > 0:01:00towns are where we learned to be urban.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03They are the building blocks of our civilisation.
0:01:03 > 0:01:09Coastal towns, market towns, river towns, industrial towns.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13Collectively, they bind our land together.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18This is the story of towns, but it's also OUR story -
0:01:18 > 0:01:23where we came from, how we live and where we might be going.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28This is Perth, right at the heart of Scotland.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30With a population of 45,000,
0:01:30 > 0:01:34it's a comfortable, largely well-heeled sort of place,
0:01:34 > 0:01:38aloof from the industry and politics of Glasgow and Edinburgh,
0:01:38 > 0:01:41surrounded by majestic countryside.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44It's also a town that thinks it should be a city.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47I'm going to find out why.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18That is the mouth of the most powerful river in Britain.
0:02:18 > 0:02:24The River Tay is a giant among waterways, Scotland's Amazon.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28More than 15 million cubic metres of water
0:02:28 > 0:02:31pours from the Tay into the sea every day.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36That's as much water as the River Thames and the Severn combined.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39Perth is here because of this river.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48Perth's location is spectacular.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51It sits right at the gateway to the Highlands.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54Over there are the Grampian Mountains, soaring like a wall
0:02:54 > 0:02:56from the River Tay's floodplain.
0:02:59 > 0:03:0312,000 years ago, when the last of the Ice Age glaciers
0:03:03 > 0:03:05were disappearing into those mountains,
0:03:05 > 0:03:09meltwater flushed fantastic amounts of sand and gravel
0:03:09 > 0:03:14down to the lowlands, where it laid down the thick bed of material
0:03:14 > 0:03:17the Tay powers through today.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21At Perth, you'd have to dig down something like 45m
0:03:21 > 0:03:24before you hit solid rock.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34800 years ago, this was the first point
0:03:34 > 0:03:37where the river could be bridged.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40It was also the upper limit of navigation.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43Ships could sail up the river from the North Sea
0:03:43 > 0:03:46and unload their cargo 25 miles inland.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49They couldn't get any further.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53Right here, where the river was narrow enough to be bridged,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57yet deep enough to take ships, a town was born.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08Perth is celebrating.
0:04:08 > 0:04:13It's celebrating the 800th anniversary of a document.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19This town was granted a Royal Burgh charter in 1210
0:04:19 > 0:04:21by King William the Lion.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25So for the last 800 years, it's been a royal town.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29But Perth thinks it should be a city.
0:04:29 > 0:04:35This is a place which survived being attacked by Robert the Bruce.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Its castle was swept away by catastrophic floods.
0:04:39 > 0:04:44A king, King James I of Scotland, was murdered within Perth's walls.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47Perth thinks it has the history to be a city,
0:04:47 > 0:04:50and it has the fire in its belly to prove it.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57So should it stay a town or become a city?
0:04:57 > 0:05:01As part of these 800th anniversary celebrations,
0:05:01 > 0:05:05images from its past are being projected onto the City Hall.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11They're showing images of Perth from the past and the present.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14They're images everybody's recognising,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17so lots of folk are stopping to admire them on the way past.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20They're images that make Perth feel proud of itself,
0:05:20 > 0:05:23make it feel bigger, perhaps, than it really is.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32Tonight marks the culmination of a year of events
0:05:32 > 0:05:35designed to put Perth firmly back on the map -
0:05:35 > 0:05:38but to put it back on the map as a city,
0:05:38 > 0:05:40not as a town.
0:05:40 > 0:05:42But what do the people think?
0:05:42 > 0:05:47Do the local inhabitants think Perth is a town or a city?
0:05:47 > 0:05:50- Is it a city?- Well, officially not yet, but I think it should be,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52and I think most other people think it should be.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54I'd say it's a city more than a town.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56Compare it to a place like Dundee, which is a city.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59It's got a lot of history, it should be a city.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01I think it's got a city feel to it.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03- Perth is definitely a city. - We have a cathedral, we're a city.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06- Of course it's a city! - Not a town.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Oh, dear!
0:06:10 > 0:06:16What am I doing here making a series on towns, if Perth really is a city?
0:06:17 > 0:06:23In 1975, Perth officially lost the right to call itself a city.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28Nearby Dundee was chosen as the administrative centre of the region,
0:06:28 > 0:06:31and Perth lost out. It became an ex-city.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34It was relegated, left out in the cold.
0:06:38 > 0:06:39Behind all the buildings,
0:06:39 > 0:06:42behind all the civic furniture that makes up a town,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45there are the inhabitants, the people.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48And people know the status of their community,
0:06:48 > 0:06:51they know where it fits on the map.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55Perth's demotion from city status
0:06:55 > 0:07:00removed it from the map of British cities, and for many,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03putting Perth back on that map is a matter of honour.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18The perception that cities are the urban elite is an old one.
0:07:18 > 0:07:23To Aristotle, people congregated in cities to live the good life.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27Cities share the same Latin root as "civilisation",
0:07:27 > 0:07:30and to this day there's a lingering suggestion
0:07:30 > 0:07:35that everything outside the orbit of the city is uncivilised.
0:07:37 > 0:07:43The most recent Scottish town to win city status was Stirling in 2002.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46That Stirling is Perth's neighbour and occasional rival
0:07:46 > 0:07:50made Perth's official designation as a town
0:07:50 > 0:07:51all the more difficult to bear.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57To mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee,
0:07:57 > 0:08:03Her Majesty will create one new city in the UK - but will it be Perth?
0:08:03 > 0:08:07Other towns are queuing up to enter the contest,
0:08:07 > 0:08:10from Luton, Colchester and Blackpool to Milton Keynes and Croydon.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13They all want city status.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21There are no special rights conferred by city status,
0:08:21 > 0:08:24no financial benefits or cultural clout.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26It's about acknowledgement of scale,
0:08:26 > 0:08:30taking a seat at the urban high table.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32It's all about image.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39Perth was christened the Fair City by fans of Sir Walter Scott's novel
0:08:39 > 0:08:43The Fair Maid Of Perth, written in the 1820s.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45And this is the Fair Maid's house.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47It's one of the oldest buildings in Perth,
0:08:47 > 0:08:51and it's currently enjoying a major restoration.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55But it's not the first time it's been given a makeover.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59This tower was added to make the building conform more closely
0:08:59 > 0:09:02with the Fair Maid's house in the book.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04Every building tells a story,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07and this story is all about making a city.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11So as long ago as the 19th century,
0:09:11 > 0:09:15this town's PR department was busy image-building.
0:09:15 > 0:09:22Throughout history, Perth has used every trick in the book to prove its city status.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26It started calling itself a city long before Scott put pen to paper.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29The town found that the best way to become a city
0:09:29 > 0:09:33was just to call itself that over and over again,
0:09:33 > 0:09:37on the grounds that no-one was going to argue.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41But it was never officially granted city status.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45Perth may have been a royal burgh, it may have been described in print
0:09:45 > 0:09:49as the Fair City, but it didn't get the documentation.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53Perth was a monarch without a crown.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57Historically in Britain, if you had a cathedral,
0:09:57 > 0:09:59you were considered a city.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02Today that's not the case.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Only the ruling monarch can grant city status,
0:10:05 > 0:10:09and as yet, Her Majesty hasn't given Perth the nod.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23In every town, if you look into the street names,
0:10:23 > 0:10:28you can peel back layers of history. Old street names have meaning.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32They reveal a town's first markets, tradesmen.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35They take you back to a town's reason for being.
0:10:35 > 0:10:41And in Perth, those street names reveal something extraordinary -
0:10:41 > 0:10:43a town born from water.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Medieval Perth had two main streets - High Street,
0:10:50 > 0:10:53which still exists, I'm standing on it now,
0:10:53 > 0:10:55and South Street, which ran parallel.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58It's just over there behind the shops.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02There were also a number of crossway streets known as gates.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07There were town walls pierced at a number of points by entrances, or ports.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12And encircling the town walls there was the town Lade, a canal.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Unlike any other town in Britain, Perth had a medieval moat
0:11:20 > 0:11:24that ran around it, which was part mill race, part-canal.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27It defined the town.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31Hemmed in between the Lade and the Tay, parts of Perth
0:11:31 > 0:11:34would have once looked like a white-water version of Venice.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38Fed through a sluice further up the River Almond,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41the Lade waterway was a defensive measure,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44and, vitally for Perth's survival,
0:11:44 > 0:11:48it was also the source of power for the town's mills.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51And I should be able to find the site of Perth's old mills
0:11:51 > 0:11:54by tracing the route of the Lade today.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58This is Canal Street - a clue, isn't it?
0:11:58 > 0:12:01It still feels like the edge of town.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08'And it's not the only clue to the town's history either.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11'I'm starting to notice street names that recall leather-working,
0:12:11 > 0:12:15'tanneries, waterways and farmers' markets,
0:12:15 > 0:12:20'each name a window on a medieval street scene.'
0:12:20 > 0:12:24These alleyways, or vennels, as they're known in Perth,
0:12:24 > 0:12:26were originally wide enough to take a horse and cart.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30They would have been lined with makeshift stalls and shops,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34which were eventually replaced by more permanent stone structures,
0:12:34 > 0:12:36narrowing the vennel.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40This one, Fleshers' Vennel, was known for its butchers.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Tracing the route of the old town Lade,
0:12:46 > 0:12:49I'm beginning to realise that it wasn't just a practical waterway.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52It delimited the vital organs of the town.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56The bits of the town which really mattered were all inside the Lade.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03It's as if the entire course of the canal has been tarmacked over.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07These street names show exactly where the Lade once ran.
0:13:07 > 0:13:12And further along the road, it finally enters Mill Street.
0:13:19 > 0:13:23Here in the centre of town, the Lade reached the City Mills.
0:13:23 > 0:13:25This is where the people of Perth ground their grain,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28using barley and wheat from the fertile farmland
0:13:28 > 0:13:32that ran for miles beyond all these walls and streets.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37For the God-fearing people of Perth, fishes may have come from the Tay,
0:13:37 > 0:13:40but the loaves were courtesy of the Lade.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53All towns have an identity.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56The buildings and streets, the stone and brick,
0:13:56 > 0:13:58cast iron, concrete and glass -
0:13:58 > 0:14:02that's what you see when you look around.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04But they're really just the clothes.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09The soul of a town, its identity, the place it thinks it is,
0:14:09 > 0:14:12is less obvious, less visible.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16And Perth has an identity crisis.
0:14:16 > 0:14:18It's grown used to thinking big.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22It's been nurtured by the biggest river in the land.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26It has a big history. No wonder it thinks it's a city.
0:14:38 > 0:14:45Perth has a population of 45,000, so it's not enormous by any means.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49But I think this town is definitely trying to get noticed.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54It seems to me that Perth is in the midst of
0:14:54 > 0:14:56an episode of extraordinary change.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00It's the very evident way that the physical fabric
0:15:00 > 0:15:02of the town is being re-invented.
0:15:06 > 0:15:12There's this dramatic new concert hall, head-turning urban sculptures.
0:15:12 > 0:15:17This town is working hard at making the grade.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20But is there something missing?
0:15:20 > 0:15:24Most cities have a defining central space.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28Think of Trafalgar Square, Times Square in New York
0:15:28 > 0:15:30or St Peter's Square in Rome,
0:15:30 > 0:15:34somewhere where people can gather on important occasions.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Walk around Perth, and you won't find that central space.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40It's just not here.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42'Or is it?'
0:15:46 > 0:15:48This is the old City Hall,
0:15:48 > 0:15:52built by the Edwardians in that long, sunny afternoon
0:15:52 > 0:15:55between the glories of the Victorian Age
0:15:55 > 0:15:58and the outbreak of the First World War.
0:15:58 > 0:16:04Here, carved in stone, is the pride, the prosperity of an empire.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09These Ionic columns, the cornices, the cherubs, the garlands
0:16:09 > 0:16:12are cues from Ancient Greece.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15Here's a temple of culture, an Acropolis on the Tay.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21The hall opened in 1911, and throughout the 20th century
0:16:21 > 0:16:24it was the venue for Perth's concerts, dances, rock bands.
0:16:24 > 0:16:30Everyone played here, from The Who to Gerry and The Pacemakers.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34For many in the town, it's a hall of memories, the place they saw
0:16:34 > 0:16:38their first gig, where they met that boy or girl they went on to marry.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43But there's a plan to knock it down.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52Is it true that you're planning to knock down the City Hall?
0:16:52 > 0:16:55Yes, the council's considering that very seriously.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57The building has been empty for five years,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00and we've failed to find a good use for the building,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03and so we're now saying, "Should we demolish it?"
0:17:03 > 0:17:06and instead of replacing it with another building,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10actually create a civic square, a piazza in the heart of Perth.
0:17:10 > 0:17:16Why do you want to knock it down? Are there not any other places to create this central square?
0:17:16 > 0:17:19Perth, unusually for Scottish towns, has a gridiron street pattern,
0:17:19 > 0:17:26and there's actually no area of open space apart from a graveyard.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29Our thought was that we should look at creating a square
0:17:29 > 0:17:32right in the heart of Perth, something it lacked.
0:17:32 > 0:17:37One option that we did look at was partial demolition.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40The front of it I call the Brandenburg Gate,
0:17:40 > 0:17:44with the columns and quite severe architecture
0:17:44 > 0:17:48and those dreadful gnomes, I think, on the top of it.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51- Cherubs, aren't they?- I think they're gnomes.- Oh, really?
0:17:51 > 0:17:53I think the architect got the scale wrong.
0:17:53 > 0:17:59Far too big and ugly. But we did say, "Well, could you actually keep that bit of it and demolish the rest?"
0:17:59 > 0:18:02and turn the front into a restaurant or tourist office or something,
0:18:02 > 0:18:06but I think on balance we felt that it maybe better all go.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08And the interesting thing was,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12if you go back to the 1860 Ordnance Survey map, this was a public square.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14There was a very small city hall,
0:18:14 > 0:18:19but the area around the kirk was the flesh market, the meat market.
0:18:19 > 0:18:23We then looked more broadly to say, "What is the value of that building
0:18:23 > 0:18:27"to Perth as opposed to the value of the space to Perth?"
0:18:27 > 0:18:34If you could use that as a centre for fairs, for exhibitions, open-air concerts.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38It's big enough, for example, to have a curling rink in it.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41You could have a genuine ice rink here in the winter.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43- You could have one today, couldn't you?- Yeah.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46And curling, have the Christmas tree there.
0:18:46 > 0:18:49To have one place that was the focus of the city, I think,
0:18:49 > 0:18:50would be very exciting.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02I need a walk around to think this one through.
0:19:02 > 0:19:07The idea of a modern city space is really attractive,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10but at what expense to the character of Perth, the town?
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Tight up against the back of City Hall
0:19:18 > 0:19:21stands Perth's oldest building, St John's Kirk.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25First mentioned in the royal documents of 1128,
0:19:25 > 0:19:29the kirk used to be the most prominent landmark in town.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33Before it was encroached upon by more modern buildings,
0:19:33 > 0:19:36St John's was visible for miles around.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40Rising from its high ground, it was the symbol of this town,
0:19:40 > 0:19:45so much so that Perth was sometimes known as St John's Town.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48The name may not have stuck for the town,
0:19:48 > 0:19:52but it's still the name of Perth's football team, St Johnstone.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56Walking around the kirk today,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59it looks as if it's sinking into the ground,
0:19:59 > 0:20:03as if it's shrunk with age, lost the stature of its youth.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11Something rather odd has happened to the church's main west door.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16It's shorter than it should be, like a lift stuck between two floors.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19If St John's once stood proud on its high ground,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22it doesn't command quite the same position now.
0:20:27 > 0:20:31The answer lies beneath these paving stones.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33Here in the centre of Perth,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36there are thousands of bodies beneath my feet..
0:20:42 > 0:20:47This was the church's graveyard for 500 years.
0:20:47 > 0:20:52When the burials began to mount up, so did the ground.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55When the congregation below the surface began to impede access
0:20:55 > 0:21:00for those above, it was time to find another burial ground.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07New urban landmarks appear through the centuries.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11The church lost its prominence as a central meeting place to the City Hall.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14And now it's the prominence of the City Hall
0:21:14 > 0:21:15which hangs in the balance.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21I'm sure the father of town planning, Patrick Geddes,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24would have had an opinion on the subject.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28Geddes was a Perthshire man with visionary ideas.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33He wrote in 1910, "Civic architecture and Town Planning
0:21:33 > 0:21:37"are expressions of local history, of civic and national changes
0:21:37 > 0:21:38"and contrasts of mind.
0:21:38 > 0:21:43"Each generation must make its own contribution
0:21:43 > 0:21:45"in its own characteristic way."
0:21:45 > 0:21:51So it's up to the people of Perth to decide what Perth should look like.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53City Hall, or no City Hall?
0:21:53 > 0:21:55That is the question.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00To get a better view of the controversial piazza,
0:22:00 > 0:22:03I'm going up the church tower.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05As Perth's most historic building,
0:22:05 > 0:22:09and as part of its bid for city status,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13the kirk's interior is currently being renovated
0:22:13 > 0:22:15at a cost of almost £3 million.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20It was in this church in 1559 that John Knox,
0:22:20 > 0:22:24the Scottish clergyman and Protestant reformer,
0:22:24 > 0:22:28delivered a fiery sermon raging against the sin of idolatry.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31It was the speech that launched the Reformation in Scotland,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34revolutionising religious practice throughout the land -
0:22:34 > 0:22:40another big, historical event that Perth can claim as its own.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44Right outside today, another radical reformation
0:22:44 > 0:22:46could be about to take place.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53Now I'm up here, I can see what Roland means.
0:22:53 > 0:22:58Take out the City Hall and you create a magnificent square.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01The planner would have it lined with cafe tables,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04couples strolling arm in arm,
0:23:04 > 0:23:07but...but, but, but, there's always a but...
0:23:09 > 0:23:13I do wonder whether the people of Perth
0:23:13 > 0:23:16would see this new square
0:23:16 > 0:23:21as a focal point, or as a gaping void.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25It's freezing up here today, there's snow on the mountains,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29and there's an icy wind cutting across the rooftops.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33If you create a big open space here,
0:23:33 > 0:23:39it's going to be like walking across a tract of the Siberian tundra on a very bad day.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Now, Perth is an intimate town.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46The buildings huddle together for companionship and warmth.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48The buildings are separated by narrow alleys,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51vennels, crooked streets.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54Everything's close-packed, very friendly.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58You create a vast open space in the middle of a town like this,
0:23:58 > 0:24:00and it just feels out of place.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05I don't know, my feeling is that
0:24:05 > 0:24:08to put an Italian piazza here in Perth
0:24:08 > 0:24:14is rather like building a centrally heated shopping mall in the Sahara.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16I don't really think it should be knocked down.
0:24:54 > 0:24:58In the past, rivers were vital arteries of trade and communication.
0:24:58 > 0:25:03They could be harnessed to power mills, they could be fished for food
0:25:03 > 0:25:05and used for irrigation, drinking water
0:25:05 > 0:25:09and a multitude of industrial purposes.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12The bigger the river, the more it had to offer,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16and the Tay is a big river - the biggest river in Britain.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24There's something more fundamental, though,
0:25:24 > 0:25:27something that goes right to the soul of this town.
0:25:27 > 0:25:31Perth has always existed at the whim of this mighty river,
0:25:31 > 0:25:34the river that brought it here in the first place.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38The Tay is Perth's alter ego, the other half of its psyche,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41the untamed lifeforce that brought it into being,
0:25:41 > 0:25:45the monster that rises from its lair to wreak havoc.
0:25:58 > 0:26:02It's like balancing on a gigantic muscle!
0:26:02 > 0:26:05Very scary river.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14Catastrophic floods have swept away bridges, castles,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17property and people.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20Perth has always been a flood town.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28In January 1993, the river burst its flood banks
0:26:28 > 0:26:31and poured through the town.
0:26:31 > 0:26:342,000 cubic metres per second of water
0:26:34 > 0:26:38thundered under the bridges and over the streets.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41It was one of the most severe floods in Perth's history.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46The worst affected area was North Muirton,
0:26:46 > 0:26:50a Perth housing scheme built on the flood plain.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53NEWSREADER: More than 400 people were evacuated from houses
0:26:53 > 0:26:55on Perth's North Muirton estate last night.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58At one point, the Army and Navy were called in to help.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02Like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05it was those who were less well off who were hit hardest.
0:27:05 > 0:27:101,500 houses in Perth were seriously affected by the floodwater.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14900 of those were in North Muirton.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19£40m worth of damage was caused in just one weekend.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21It was a disastrous time for the town.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38After the floods of 1993,
0:27:38 > 0:27:43Perth's relationship with the Tay changed forever.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47Never again would the river be allowed to terrorise this town.
0:27:47 > 0:27:54£25m was poured into a hi-tech flood-defence system.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58Now, an impressive 81 floodgates, seven pumping stations,
0:27:58 > 0:28:03plus miles of embankments, holding ponds and strategic flood areas
0:28:03 > 0:28:05are in place to protect the town.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09It's a flood-defence system to match any in the world,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13and this morning they're putting it to the test.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17If a flood is on its way, the flood-defence team
0:28:17 > 0:28:19get only a few hours' warning
0:28:19 > 0:28:22to close the gates and protect the town.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26This is one of Perth's best-kept secrets,
0:28:26 > 0:28:30a feat of engineering and ingenuity.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33- Like closing up all the bulkheads in a ship.- Pretty much, yeah, yeah.
0:28:33 > 0:28:35- A door-slamming exercise.- Yeah.
0:28:39 > 0:28:44How high does the water have to rise before it goes over the top of your defences?
0:28:44 > 0:28:49The whole design of the system is based on the 1814 flood,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52which is the worst inundation that Perth has ever had.
0:28:52 > 0:28:57We've got that, plus half a metre is built in for climate change,
0:28:57 > 0:29:00and another 300 to 400mm for freeboard,
0:29:00 > 0:29:03which is basically wave action etc.
0:29:03 > 0:29:07So hopefully we would never actually be in a situation
0:29:07 > 0:29:10where the defences would be overtopped.
0:29:10 > 0:29:14It's Perth's unique location that makes it so vulnerable.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17The volume of water pouring downstream
0:29:17 > 0:29:20from a massive catchment area, swollen by snowmelt
0:29:20 > 0:29:25and aggravated by tidal surge from the mouth of the Tay,
0:29:25 > 0:29:28exposes Perth to sudden inundation.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31At Smeaton's Bridge, the major crossing to the town,
0:29:31 > 0:29:35the ravages of previous floods have been methodically recorded.
0:29:35 > 0:29:40So, we have the big inundation of 1814,
0:29:40 > 0:29:42that's the mark here.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45The water level actually got up to this height.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47- That's...- That was the big flood?
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Yeah, that's the worst recorded episode.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53We have some more recent ones.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57For example, we have 14th December 2006,
0:29:57 > 0:30:02and the 1993 flood that we had actually reached this level here.
0:30:02 > 0:30:07It's a fair height when you see how high up this would be going
0:30:07 > 0:30:09compared to these properties there.
0:30:09 > 0:30:14- That would have flooded the road here and flooded those houses over there.- Yeah.
0:30:14 > 0:30:16- So the '93 flood, the water's up to here.- Yeah.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18and the water was pouring in...
0:30:18 > 0:30:24All of these properties, the basement areas would have been absolutely inundated at that particular time.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28- It doesn't look like a floodgate, does it?- No, the design is such
0:30:28 > 0:30:35that it's supposed to blend in nicely with the sandstone walls,
0:30:35 > 0:30:38and it's as aesthetically pleasing as a floodgate could be
0:30:38 > 0:30:40under the circumstances.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43Would you like to have a go at closing one of these gates?
0:30:43 > 0:30:46The small boy in me would love to close a floodgate.
0:30:46 > 0:30:48There's a fair weight in it,
0:30:48 > 0:30:51and once we close them, as you can see,
0:30:51 > 0:30:56the rubber seals would make contact with the metal plinth along here.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58- OK?- Yeah!
0:30:58 > 0:31:01You wouldn't want to shut your fingers in it, would you?
0:31:01 > 0:31:03No, I think you might lose a few.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06- Here we are.- Blimey!
0:31:09 > 0:31:11London has the Thames Barrier.
0:31:11 > 0:31:16Perth has 81 barriers to protect its land and its people
0:31:16 > 0:31:19and perhaps its future ambitions as a city.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26You can walk through Perth and miss every one of those floodgates.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30They're disguised, they're discreet.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34If one of them does catch your eye, it's a reassuring reminder.
0:31:34 > 0:31:39"Don't worry about the river", it says, "we've contained the beast".
0:31:59 > 0:32:02Towns habitually go with the flow,
0:32:02 > 0:32:05adapt to their changing environment and times.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07The way they work and look is shaped, in part,
0:32:07 > 0:32:12by that continuous engine of change, progress,
0:32:12 > 0:32:16the never-ending demand for a better standard of living
0:32:16 > 0:32:18and a more resilient economy.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22But progress can be brutal.
0:32:22 > 0:32:23Perth had a medieval wall,
0:32:23 > 0:32:27until the Georgians pulled it down in the 18th century.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31Now the City Hall is under threat.
0:32:31 > 0:32:36Towns evolve in fits and starts, and sometimes the fits can be explosive.
0:32:39 > 0:32:40Throughout the 18th century,
0:32:40 > 0:32:45an influential group of families were controlling affairs in Perth.
0:32:45 > 0:32:47They were known as the Beautiful Order,
0:32:47 > 0:32:49because, as one Edinburgh wit put it,
0:32:49 > 0:32:53they'd got everything here so beautifully stitched up.
0:32:53 > 0:32:59Wealthy, powerful, they took it on themselves to change the public face
0:32:59 > 0:33:03of this somewhat architecturally chaotic town by the Tay.
0:33:10 > 0:33:15The look they were after had already transformed Edinburgh and Bath.
0:33:15 > 0:33:20Now Georgian architecture reclothed Perth.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24Influenced by classical ideas, it was elegant, understated, ordered.
0:33:31 > 0:33:36Here, it was the vision of one man above all - Thomas Anderson.
0:33:36 > 0:33:40Anderson meticulously planned the expansion of the town,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43acquiring land and developing the sites.
0:33:43 > 0:33:49This remarkable document is the MacFarlane map of 1792,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52and it shows everything that Thomas Anderson had planned.
0:33:52 > 0:33:58Here to the north of medieval Perth is a mathematical grid of streets,
0:33:58 > 0:34:01lines on this map. He says what they mean in the key.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05"The black and dotted lines are the new intended streets
0:34:05 > 0:34:06"which, when finished,
0:34:06 > 0:34:11"will make Perth one of the most delightful towns in Europe".
0:34:11 > 0:34:16It's a big urban dream, and so is the scale of it.
0:34:16 > 0:34:22Anderson's new town was going to more than double the size of Perth.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25The man he chose to realise his vision
0:34:25 > 0:34:27was his son-in-law, Thomas Marshall,
0:34:27 > 0:34:30and one of the first streets Marshall built was Rose Terrace,
0:34:30 > 0:34:34named after his young wife, Anderson's daughter, Rose.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Anderson imposed strict conditions for Rose Terrace,
0:34:45 > 0:34:48which set the tone for the whole of Georgian Perth.
0:34:56 > 0:34:59If you bought a plot of land on Rose Terrace,
0:34:59 > 0:35:01you had to build on it within two years.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04The house you constructed had to be of stone
0:35:04 > 0:35:07with an ashlar, a squared stone front.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10It had to have a roof of blue slate.
0:35:10 > 0:35:15It also had to be the same colour as all the other houses in the street.
0:35:15 > 0:35:19It was also compulsory that it should consist of a vault,
0:35:19 > 0:35:22a ground floor, two upper stories and garrets.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26Each householder on Rose Terrace
0:35:26 > 0:35:29was also given land behind their property.
0:35:29 > 0:35:32But there were strings attached to this too.
0:35:32 > 0:35:34Gardens were not to be used for,
0:35:34 > 0:35:39"The making of soap, candles, glass or vitriol,
0:35:39 > 0:35:42"nor for boiling yarn, slaughtering or coppersmithing,
0:35:42 > 0:35:46"nor for a chemistry's laboratory."
0:35:46 > 0:35:49Basically, nothing that would upset the neighbours.
0:35:50 > 0:35:55Anderson was prescribing a new urban order.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59His Georgian development wasn't going to look like anything
0:35:59 > 0:36:01Perth had ever seen before.
0:36:01 > 0:36:03The higgledy-piggledy buildings
0:36:03 > 0:36:07that had contributed to the shape of the town for centuries were old.
0:36:07 > 0:36:09Anderson's was a new town,
0:36:09 > 0:36:14disciplined, clean, a model of urban civilisation.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20Yet behind these civilised streets,
0:36:20 > 0:36:23a less honourable saga was unfolding.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30Thomas Anderson may have been able to impose his authority
0:36:30 > 0:36:32on the character of Georgian Perth,
0:36:32 > 0:36:35but he had less control over his daughter.
0:36:39 > 0:36:44Rose Terrace isn't exactly a monument to domestic bliss.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47By the time the street was completed,
0:36:47 > 0:36:49Thomas Marshall and Rose were divorced.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52While Thomas had been away in London and Edinburgh,
0:36:52 > 0:36:55organising the building of Perth's new town,
0:36:55 > 0:37:01raising a Perth regiment, advancing his position within the council,
0:37:01 > 0:37:03Rose had been a-wandering.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14She became involved with the Earl of Elgin, he of the Marbles,
0:37:14 > 0:37:17and later met a young military doctor
0:37:17 > 0:37:20whom she showered with letters and gifts.
0:37:20 > 0:37:25As scandal whispered along the new stone pavements, Rose left Perth.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28So, she and her husband, Thomas Marshall,
0:37:28 > 0:37:32never did live together here in Marshall House,
0:37:32 > 0:37:35the grand residence Thomas had planned for them.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Marshall did become Lord Provost of Perth,
0:37:40 > 0:37:44but he died a lonely man aged just 38.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46The moral of the tale, perhaps -
0:37:46 > 0:37:48don't neglect your wife for civic glory.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07Perth's status as a Royal Burgh was well deserved.
0:38:07 > 0:38:10Just across the River Tay sits Scone Palace,
0:38:10 > 0:38:12the original home of the Stone of Destiny
0:38:12 > 0:38:15on which Scotland's kings and queens
0:38:15 > 0:38:17have been crowned for centuries.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26In the 1420s, after his release from exile in England,
0:38:26 > 0:38:31James I of Scotland chose Perth as his main residence.
0:38:31 > 0:38:37Of the 16 Scottish parliaments he convened, 13 were held in Perth.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41During his reign, Perth became regarded not just as any city
0:38:41 > 0:38:44but as Scotland's first city.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48But it was not to last.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50SINISTER MUSIC PLAYS
0:38:52 > 0:38:55Perth has a dark stain on its name,
0:38:55 > 0:38:59something that is probably more responsible for its loss of city status
0:38:59 > 0:39:02than this town would care to admit.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07In 1437, with the King often in residence,
0:39:07 > 0:39:10Perth was effectively the Scottish capital.
0:39:10 > 0:39:13But then there was a murder.
0:39:17 > 0:39:19This is where the King was killed.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23- Probably not actually in here, but on the site.- Regicide in Perth?
0:39:23 > 0:39:27Absolutely, yes, James I was killed here.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29That's a pretty black stain.
0:39:29 > 0:39:32I guess it is, yes.
0:39:32 > 0:39:34I mean, James seems to have really liked Perth,
0:39:34 > 0:39:36but he got his comeuppance.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41Now, tell me why James I mattered, which king was he?
0:39:41 > 0:39:45Well, he is the grandson of the first Stuart king,
0:39:45 > 0:39:48so the great-grandson of Robert the Bruce,
0:39:48 > 0:39:52and he had actually spent his formative years in England,
0:39:52 > 0:39:53and this very much affected him
0:39:53 > 0:39:57because he was very impressed by the English kings Henry IV and Henry V.
0:39:57 > 0:40:02When he came back to Scotland, he wanted to upgrade Scottish kingship
0:40:02 > 0:40:04to be a lot more like England,
0:40:04 > 0:40:07which meant he also has to acquire a lot of wealth to do that.
0:40:07 > 0:40:09Scotland didn't like taxation,
0:40:09 > 0:40:13and so he actually also acquired land by slightly dubious means,
0:40:13 > 0:40:16pressurised people into giving up their lands
0:40:16 > 0:40:19and generally made people feel very, very insecure.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22- So, he wasn't very popular. - He was absolutely not popular,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25to the extent that some people were calling him a tyrant.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28Who had it in for him in particular?
0:40:28 > 0:40:30Apart from just about everybody?
0:40:30 > 0:40:33Walter, Earl of Atholl's grandson, Robert Stewart,
0:40:33 > 0:40:37was one of the King's closest... well, companion,
0:40:37 > 0:40:41and he arranged, on the night of 20th February 1437...
0:40:41 > 0:40:43So, this is a betrayal?
0:40:43 > 0:40:46Absolutely, from the heart, from the family,
0:40:46 > 0:40:48it is a sort of nest of vipers.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50He's just totally vulnerable,
0:40:50 > 0:40:53because it's a man from within his own household
0:40:53 > 0:40:54who has let the conspirators in.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57Not only is this, you know, a Kennedy moment
0:40:57 > 0:40:59in the sense that you are killing the King,
0:40:59 > 0:41:02- but it's an inside job as well. - Absolutely. It had to be.
0:41:02 > 0:41:04This is all starting to get slightly creepy,
0:41:04 > 0:41:07because you're talking about something that...
0:41:07 > 0:41:09The cellars are under this building?
0:41:09 > 0:41:12Pretty much, yes. This is the site.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14- Shall we have a look? - Oh, come on, then!
0:41:19 > 0:41:23James was warned that armed Atholl men were after his blood.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27In desperation, he prised up the floorboards of his bedchamber
0:41:27 > 0:41:30and dropped into the sewers.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40So, sewers have outflows, so why didn't the King just run down the tunnel and escape?
0:41:40 > 0:41:42Ah, very good question!
0:41:42 > 0:41:46And if he'd had to do it three days earlier, he'd have been fine,
0:41:46 > 0:41:50but the King was a lover of the game of tennis, the royal game of tennis,
0:41:50 > 0:41:52and he used to play just outside.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55Unfortunately, his tennis balls used to roll down
0:41:55 > 0:41:59into the gubbins in the bottom of the sewer, so he had it boarded up!
0:41:59 > 0:42:02So, when he found himself down here,
0:42:02 > 0:42:07hearing the men above, up above his head, there was no way out.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12And that's it. I mean, he really is like a rat, stuck in a sewer.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15They're hacking at him and, you know,
0:42:15 > 0:42:19this is an absolutely appalling, horrific end
0:42:19 > 0:42:21to an anointed King of Scots.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28Game, set and match to the House of Atholl.
0:42:28 > 0:42:29After the murder of James I,
0:42:29 > 0:42:33the seat of royal power moved swiftly to Edinburgh.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37His son's coronation was held in Holyrood, not Scone,
0:42:37 > 0:42:40which was never again to accommodate a parliament.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43Perth had lost its city crown,
0:42:43 > 0:42:45and it's still trying to get it back.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03All towns have a regional magnetism,
0:43:03 > 0:43:07drawing people and goods inward to markets, shops and businesses.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11Towns are economic and cultural hubs, places where people mingle.
0:43:11 > 0:43:16And in the centre of this magnetic town,
0:43:16 > 0:43:20people seem drawn to one meeting place in particular.
0:43:20 > 0:43:25This is the Harrods of Perth - McEwens.
0:43:28 > 0:43:33This is the shop that brought French couture to Perth in the 1860s
0:43:33 > 0:43:36and put on some very stylish window displays.
0:43:38 > 0:43:43You came here for the latest fashion, the latest gossip.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45It was a meeting place, a hub.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48McEwens brought the country crowd to town.
0:43:50 > 0:43:54Although the heyday of town department stores is long past,
0:43:54 > 0:43:58the clientele here still seem to come from far and wide.
0:44:00 > 0:44:02- Can I ask where you've both come from?- Fife.
0:44:02 > 0:44:05I've come from Dunfermline.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07So, how far away is that from Perth?
0:44:07 > 0:44:0823 miles.
0:44:08 > 0:44:1023, and I'll be about 30.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12Where do you come from?
0:44:12 > 0:44:15Tillicoultry. It's nine miles from Stirling.
0:44:15 > 0:44:17- That's a long way!- Yes.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20You look as if you're having a family gathering here.
0:44:20 > 0:44:22Where have you all come from?
0:44:22 > 0:44:27- Well, we're from Perth, and Mark's from down south.- OK.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29- How often do you come to McEwens? - Um...
0:44:29 > 0:44:33Probably once a month, once every two months, for lunch or coffees.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35How often do you come to McEwens?
0:44:35 > 0:44:39Three times, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43And how many years have you been doing that for?
0:44:43 > 0:44:45Oh, about 17 years.
0:44:45 > 0:44:48Of course I've got a free bus pass.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52Well, I used to work here 20 years ago as a waitress when I was at school, so,
0:44:52 > 0:44:54and Anne was my boss 20 years ago.
0:44:54 > 0:44:57And also, before that my grandparents used to come,
0:44:57 > 0:45:00so I've been coming here since I was a small child, so 30-odd years ago.
0:45:00 > 0:45:04- So you're the third generation in your family to be coming to McEwen's for lunch?- Yes.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07- Well, I'll let you get on with your lunch.- OK, thank you.
0:45:07 > 0:45:09- Sorry to interrupt.- Bye-bye. - Bye-bye.
0:45:09 > 0:45:12'How long have you been manager here, Anne?
0:45:12 > 0:45:15'Em, I've worked in McEwens for 35 years.'
0:45:15 > 0:45:18So, for most of that time I have been the manager
0:45:18 > 0:45:19on and off up in the restaurant, yes.
0:45:19 > 0:45:23You seem to know everybody by their first names.
0:45:23 > 0:45:28Yes, it's fantastic. We have... it's quite a core for the store this.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31We know the customers that come in on Saturdays and Mondays and their families.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34We have a few generations that, you know, use the restaurant,
0:45:34 > 0:45:37so, yes, we know them quite well.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45McEwens proves that Perth is really a town not a city.
0:45:45 > 0:45:51Knowing all your customers by name, seeing families grow up,
0:45:51 > 0:45:53as generations pass through your store...
0:45:53 > 0:45:55That's warm-hearted town life...
0:45:55 > 0:45:58the opposite of city anonymity.
0:45:58 > 0:46:01As a town, Perth can enjoy the best of both worlds,
0:46:01 > 0:46:05being as intimate as a village and as cosmopolitan as a city.
0:46:12 > 0:46:15But there is another side to being a thriving hub.
0:46:15 > 0:46:20Successful towns are consumer hotspots.
0:46:20 > 0:46:26Along with all of that buying, selling and satisfying consumption, there's a lot of waste creation,
0:46:26 > 0:46:29and in Perth, that means Grampians of garbage.
0:46:33 > 0:46:3845,000 inhabitants are putting stuff in their bins every day.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42The only way a town can handle so much waste is by investing in systems -
0:46:42 > 0:46:46systems which export the rubbish elsewhere.
0:46:46 > 0:46:50But this town has always been clever with its rubbish.
0:46:52 > 0:46:56In the Middle Ages, waste was organic.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59People in towns gathered their muck and their rubbish
0:46:59 > 0:47:03outside their houses in private middens, like compost heaps.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05Once it rotted down a bit,
0:47:05 > 0:47:09they carted it away to use as manure on their share of the towns fields.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14By the 1450s, with more people in the town
0:47:14 > 0:47:19and fewer people growing their own food, you begin to find references
0:47:19 > 0:47:24to the middens becoming a nuisance and an obstacle in the streets.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29Middens that were not being regularly cleared were auctioned off.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33Farmers from outside town competed to buy the rich waste.
0:47:33 > 0:47:37They used it as fertiliser on their crops and come market day
0:47:37 > 0:47:41the produce it helped to grow was brought back into town.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44So town and country fed each other.
0:47:46 > 0:47:50It was perfect recycling, and that legacy continues today.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53What rubbish is we're collecting this morning?
0:47:53 > 0:47:55Basically, it's bottles...
0:47:55 > 0:47:57a lot have the tops on them.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59Papers. Tin cans.
0:47:59 > 0:48:03So that's all the stuff that goes up to be turned in to other things?
0:48:03 > 0:48:05- That's it. 42%. - What, of Perth's rubbish?
0:48:05 > 0:48:08- Yep.- 42%?!- 42%.- That's a lot!
0:48:08 > 0:48:10That is a lot.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13'It is impressive that Perth recycles 42% of its waste.
0:48:13 > 0:48:19'That's a lot more than Glasgow, Birmingham or London.
0:48:19 > 0:48:21'The success of a recycling scheme depends on
0:48:21 > 0:48:27'the attitudes of households council support and a competent infrastructure.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29'Perth seems to tick all the boxes.'
0:48:29 > 0:48:32And are people quite disciplined about putting...
0:48:32 > 0:48:34about separating?
0:48:34 > 0:48:38Oh, they're very disciplined. Very. I mean, you just need to look in...
0:48:38 > 0:48:40There we go, there's nothing wrong with that.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43Papers... There we go, newspapers...
0:48:43 > 0:48:45That's it, as long as the tops aren't on it...
0:48:45 > 0:48:50- perfect.- That's a really diligent householder.- Oh, it is that.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52Spot on with that one.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57'Perhaps a town is better placed to deal more effectively
0:48:57 > 0:48:58'with our rubbish than a city.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01'There seems to be a great pride
0:49:01 > 0:49:03'in keeping the place clean and efficient
0:49:03 > 0:49:06'and everything is on a much more manageable scale.'
0:49:11 > 0:49:15The waste we've spent the morning collecting - the bottles, the cans,
0:49:15 > 0:49:19the paper and the cardboard - is taken to a processing site just outside the town.
0:49:27 > 0:49:32Now this is the, eh, materials reclamation facility that we use.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35You can see the digger dropping stuff into the hopper,
0:49:35 > 0:49:38and it gets sent to this machine here where it all gets separated out.
0:49:38 > 0:49:40The cans are separated using magnets,
0:49:40 > 0:49:42you can see the pile of steel cans here.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45All the different materials, you know, that we separate,
0:49:45 > 0:49:51each get sent off to different re-processors throughout the UK,
0:49:51 > 0:49:54who'll each recycle these things back into new materials.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57Steel cans for example, can be recycled over and over again.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01And a recycled steel can is just as good quality as a virgin one,
0:50:01 > 0:50:04so, a great thing to do.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08And all the other bits and pieces the men sort it out by hand.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10They physically sort out the paper from the cardboard,
0:50:10 > 0:50:14and the bottles from the other bits and pieces.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18- It's not a dump so much as a factory.- Absolutely, yeah.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27I really enjoyed my morning with the bin crew, but it turns out
0:50:27 > 0:50:32that picking through the rubbish is not as straightforward as it looks.
0:50:32 > 0:50:37Up on the picking line, there are two fast-moving conveyor belts.
0:50:37 > 0:50:41The first pickers grab the biggest chunks of paper and card,
0:50:41 > 0:50:46the next team of pickers have to separate the tins and plastic.
0:50:46 > 0:50:51But concentrating on all the rubbish passing by is like looking out of a car's side window,
0:50:51 > 0:50:54trying to focus on every passing verge-side detail
0:50:54 > 0:50:57while travelling at 70mph.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03So, Graham, how long do you spend on the picking line before you go mad?
0:51:03 > 0:51:05Ha! That is a hard one!
0:51:05 > 0:51:10Doesn't it do your head in? Watching this stuff come by makes your eyes go peculiar.
0:51:10 > 0:51:14You actually get used to it after a while.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17The first two or three days it's more like motion sickness,
0:51:17 > 0:51:18you know, sea sickness.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21I'm starting to feel dizzy already!
0:51:23 > 0:51:26Is it difficult to find people to work on the picking line?
0:51:26 > 0:51:27It is.
0:51:27 > 0:51:32Most of them last two or three weeks. Some have lasted as short as a day.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35- Really?- Because of the motion in it all the time, you know.
0:51:35 > 0:51:40Trying to get your eyes to focus on different things coming down.
0:51:40 > 0:51:42This is really, really horrible.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44I'm feeling quite sick.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48It's the, eh, continual readjustment of your eyes,
0:51:48 > 0:51:52trying to refocus the whole time on new rubbish coming through.
0:51:54 > 0:51:56It's not a nice job.
0:51:56 > 0:52:00Recycling glass, paper, steel, aluminium...
0:52:00 > 0:52:05uses a lot less energy than it takes to create these products from scratch.
0:52:05 > 0:52:06Making new paper...
0:52:06 > 0:52:10everything from felling trees, to pulping and pressing the wood...
0:52:10 > 0:52:14that uses 65% more energy than recycling paper.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20Manufacturing new aluminium goods produces 95% more carbon dioxide
0:52:20 > 0:52:23than recycling old aluminium objects.
0:52:23 > 0:52:26Everything recycled in Perth
0:52:26 > 0:52:30goes on to be made into new materials within the UK.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34The glass goes to Alloa in Scotland, the paper to North Wales,
0:52:34 > 0:52:39cardboard to Glasgow, steel and aluminium to the Midlands.
0:52:39 > 0:52:41Perth is a champion of recycling.
0:52:57 > 0:53:04The drive to regain city status has given this town a tangible energy.
0:53:04 > 0:53:06And that energy is attractive.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09People want to move here.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13But the town, like the old banks of the Tay, has its limits...
0:53:13 > 0:53:17What happens when a town runs out of space?
0:53:17 > 0:53:22There's only so far Perth itself can expand.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25The town has grown up on the west side of the river.
0:53:25 > 0:53:30On the east side, development is blocked by Scone Palace and its land,
0:53:30 > 0:53:37by the steep slopes of Kinnoull Hill, and by some very exclusive private estates.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41Not much room for affordable housing there.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46If the town keeps expanding to the west then it risks becoming
0:53:46 > 0:53:49severed from its centre...
0:53:49 > 0:53:54Its historic, riverside heart will end up on the edge of town.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57But Perth might just become a city by stealth.
0:53:59 > 0:54:05The Council proposes that the rising population should spill into the nearby small villages.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09There are plans to build four entirely new communities
0:54:09 > 0:54:11within a 5-mile radius of the town.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15At Bridge of Earn, Almondbank,
0:54:15 > 0:54:18Bertha Park and just west of Perth.
0:54:18 > 0:54:23Of course, this level of development would have a knock-on effect.
0:54:23 > 0:54:27You can't build 2,000 new homes without planning for the extra traffic.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31To ease that pressure, a new bypass is proposed,
0:54:31 > 0:54:36together with a new bridge over the Tay.
0:54:36 > 0:54:39As a town, Perth can only grow so far.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42As a city, it would absorb its hinterland.
0:54:42 > 0:54:47It would begin to eat further into its surrounding countryside.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01Tonight Perth has taken to the streets to celebrate
0:55:01 > 0:55:07the 800th anniversary of the document that confirmed its status as a Royal Burgh.
0:55:07 > 0:55:11It's the closest thing to a city charter that Perth's ever had.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19It's below zero, a freezing November night
0:55:19 > 0:55:23but the people of Perth have turned out in their thousands.
0:55:23 > 0:55:27This is the kind of civic exuberance you see on the Thames,
0:55:27 > 0:55:29or above the roofs of Edinburgh.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32Talk about sky-high ambition!
0:55:32 > 0:55:34Perth wants to be seen as a city.
0:55:37 > 0:55:42But the only person who can officially grant Perth her desperately desired city status
0:55:42 > 0:55:44is Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47And Perth is doing its best to be noticed.
0:55:50 > 0:55:54There's no royalty here tonight but I'm sure Her Majesty will hear about it.
0:55:54 > 0:55:55What a night!
0:56:20 > 0:56:22So should Perth become a city?
0:56:22 > 0:56:26It's certainly building a solid case for itself.
0:56:26 > 0:56:30We've seen this town cope with flood, with regicide,
0:56:30 > 0:56:32with radical replanning.
0:56:32 > 0:56:34Perth is no stranger to challenges.
0:56:34 > 0:56:38It's had its fair share of ups and downs, of triumphs and disasters.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41Perth has a history of recovery.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45But, with the construction of its 81 flood barriers,
0:56:45 > 0:56:50the people of Perth have taken control.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53The Tay was both a real threat, and a metaphor for the way history
0:56:53 > 0:56:57inflicts sudden reversals on communities.
0:56:57 > 0:57:00Now that the river's no longer the physical threat it was,
0:57:00 > 0:57:03it's as if Perth has taken possession of her own destiny.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10This is a pivotal moment.
0:57:10 > 0:57:13Perth has tamed its monster - the river.
0:57:13 > 0:57:15But the big question I have to ask is...
0:57:15 > 0:57:21in its obsession with city status is Perth creating another demon?
0:57:21 > 0:57:25Cities by nature are over-whelming, voracious.
0:57:25 > 0:57:27And Perth's not like that.
0:57:27 > 0:57:32For my money, I'd rather be a close-knit town than an over-stretched city.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36Perth is at a crossroads.
0:57:43 > 0:57:46For a free booklet about what makes our towns work
0:57:46 > 0:57:52call 0845 366 8024 or go to:
0:57:56 > 0:57:58And follow the links to the Open University.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05Next time I'll be in Totnes in South Devon,
0:58:05 > 0:58:09a town that has become a safe haven for new ideas.
0:58:09 > 0:58:14A rickshaw running on cooking oil this model's a chip fat GTX...
0:58:14 > 0:58:18And whose visionaries change the face of our towns forever.
0:58:18 > 0:58:22The changes are coming - let's do it now before the problems start.
0:58:35 > 0:58:38Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:38 > 0:58:41E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk