A 20-year vision to make Perth a more connected, sustainable, knowledgeable and vibrant city has been approved by councillors.

The chair of Perth City Development Board has welcomed support from Perth and Kinross councillors who unanimously backed the Perth City Plan, which will now go out to consultation with residents, businesses and national bodies.

The plan details how the Fair City will take full advantage of the economic, social and cultural opportunities made available by the award of City Status in 2012.

Details included improving infrastructure, broadband and energy efficiency in the area as well as increasing recycling of household waste and investing in low carbon technologies.

Board chair John Bullough, who also has interests in the future development of the city as executive chairman of McEwen’s of Perth, said: “I am really pleased that councillors have today accepted the Perth City Plan as a basis for how the private and public sectors in Perth and Kinross can help to achieve our city’s ambitions. This is a significant step in what looks set to be an exciting journey for Perth to grow and expand in a way which will attract external investment and support the growth and development of existing business.

“Perth City Development Board is predominantly made up of private sector business leaders, working together with the council, elected members and chief executives or chairs of Perthshire’s major institutions. The board’s involvement means that this City Plan isn’t like anything that Perth has seen before, it’s not just the view of one organisation, it’s a collective vision built from the broad range of experience available within the Development Board to make Perth a great small European city.

“Developing the city isn’t just about building more roads, houses or schools. We need all of these things, but the Perth City Plan sets out actions for smart growth so that we are building the right houses, with high quality designs, to create a new generation of sustainable communities and neighbourhoods with access to employment and services.

“To achieve this the new Perth City Plan balances long term perspective with short-term action. It sets out where we want to be in 20 years, but it also identifies how we are going to get there.

“During my own limited research and conversations with specialists in this field of urban regeneration there has been a recurring theme that it would seem to me is the difference between success and failure. Many towns and cities come up with similar plans to this, but only a select few deliver them.

“Those who do succeed, do so through bravery. It’s the confidence, guts and aspiration to deliver plans that a very few, very loud people always complain about. The more ambitious the plans are, the louder the noise.

“There will always be those that would prefer Perth to stay just the way it is. Change is going to cause disruption, mess, I might even have to change my way to work.

“But the development board are absolutely confident that the quieter vast majority of Perth realise that doing nothing is simply not an option.

“We in the private sector need to get behind the Perth City Plan wholeheartedly to encourage the council to reach for the stars and support them publicly in making the difficult decisions that are required to deliver the renaissance that Perth so desperately deserves.”