The public will be asked to help to decide if the new Fife Institute for Recreational and Physical Education (FIPRE) in Glenrothes should be given a snappier title.
Fife Council has yet to confirm a date for a consultation on the name, but it is likely to be late next month. Three possible names have been suggested for the centre, which will be managed by Fife Sports and Leisure Trust.
These are keeping the name FIPRE or changing it to ‘Glenrothes Sports and Leisure Centre’ or ‘Michael Woods Sports and Leisure Centre’.
Locals will also have the chance to suggest alternative names for the £20 million complex, due for completion in April 2013.
Once finished, it will have a swimming pool, games hall, squash courts and fitness room over three floors.
Online submissions will be accepted until mid-August, with the committee deciding on a name on September 7.
Glenrothes area committee this week endorsed the use of the online public survey but stressed the final decision will lie with them.
Council leader Peter Grant said there will have to be some control exercised over the public vote.
Suggesting the process would not turn into some sort of “X Factor” competition, he felt measures should be in place to guard against multiple voting.
“Given the internet is global these days, we have to ensure the people whose opinions we have to listen to are those who will be using the new centre,” he said.
The restrictions on voting are likely to guard against making a mockery of the naming process something seen in the American state of Indiana this year where an online vote made former and relatively unknown mayor Harry Baals the runaway favourite to have his moniker attached to a US government building.
For obvious reasons, that suggestion wasn’t followed up.