£1.5 million of Big Lottery money has been promised towards the cost of an iconic new bridge across the Tay. Perth & Kinross Council staff are now working on the details – landowner negotiations, environmental impact assessments and other permissions – and fund raising.

In the meantime there are two things we all want to know: 

• When will the bridge open?

• What will we call it?  

And no, there isn’t a third thing, because we all know what it will look like. (It’s just that what you think it will look like isn’t the same as what I think or what she thinks . . .) 

A lot of people hope the bridge will open in 2010, as part of Perth’s 800^th anniversary celebrations.

Make it so!

Some people think it should be called the Destiny Bridge since it leads from Perth to Scone. And as a way of saying to Her Majesty “we want our Stone back.” 

Others are getting behind the idea that it would be a fitting tribute to David Douglas, perhaps the greatest of Scotland’s plant hunters (Douglas fir, obviously, but also another 250 tree and plant species including lupins, sunflowers and flowering currants). Douglas was born in Scone, went to Kinnoull school, and was an apprentice gardener at Scone Palace before setting off on his travels. He lived fast, died young and along the way had adventures straight out of an Indiana Jones script. One of the original Douglas firs he found stands in the grounds of Scone Palace and there is a monument to his achievements beside the old church in Scone, while across the river on the North Inch are planted examples of all the conifer species he introduced to Scotland. The bridge would make an excellent link in the David Douglas Trail. 

So, Destiny Bridge or David Douglas Bridge?