The daughter of the architect behind Bell’s Sports Centre has launched a petition against plans to build a new leisure centre at Thimblerow in Perth.
Kathleen Shek, whose father John Beattie Davidson designed the facility, wants the complex to remain as her late father intended – as a multi-use venue for indoor sports.
Mr Davidson died in 1984 at the age of 52.
Kathleen wants to protect his legacy, saying she was “his mouth piece” in the fight to save Bell’s.
She told The Courier: “Bell’s was to be a facility that everyone could use – that was his vision.
“My 93-year-old mother is still living and also wants Bell’s to be what it was intended to be.
“[It] is a place that’s very dear to my heart, and I helped it get heritage status, so I don’t want anything to take away from Bell’s.”
‘Why aren’t they listening to voters?’
Kathleen has set up a new petition to save Thimblerow car park, the site where council hope to build a new PH2O leisure centre.
The local authority’s plan has received widespread backlash among curlers, swimmers, indoor sports clubs and the public at large.
The Perth and Kinross Community Sports Network (PKCSN) has derided plans to turn Bell’s into an unheated arena with artificial pitches.
In addition to wanting to keep Bell’s as her father intended, Kathleen also can’t believe the council want to take away Thimblerow as a car park.
“I want Bell’s to be reinstated as it was, so I don’t want them building on Thimblerow car park, as it’s not going to be the same,” she said.
“The Thimblerow car park (plan) to me makes no sense.
“It’s going to cost sixty-odd million pounds, it’s going to take away one of the busiest car parks in Perth.
“It’s an easily accessible car park, it’s in the centre of town.”
She described the idea that people would instead park in Kinnoull Street car park, which is being bought over by the council, as “ludicrous”.
Kathleen believes many people, especially elderly drivers, do not like multi-storey car parks and consider them unsafe.
“It just seems like a pointless exercise to me, to take that (Thimblerow) car park away,” she said.
Across two petitions on the future of Bell’s and PH2O, more than 6,200 signatures have been collected opposing the council’s plans.
Kathleen believes it is time for councillors to listen to their constituents on the matter.
“We’re the people that vote these guys in. Why aren’t they listening to the voters?” she said.
“It’s frustrating, it’s very frustrating.”
The matter is set to go before elected members again on June 18.
Council car park figures include retail park
Perth and Kinross Council said it will continue to monitor parking availability in the city.
According to their own survey, Thimblerow remains the most popular car park in Perth.
A spokesperson for the local authority said: “Councillors approved plans to build PH2O at Thimblerow in September last year.
“The site had previously been earmarked for development and our parking survey found on weekdays peak occupancy is just 37%.
“On Saturday afternoons peak occupancy is 87%.
“Our analysis has shown there is more than enough parking provision in the city centre with maximum occupancy rates of 56%, meaning more than four out of every 10 spaces are unoccupied.
“However, we have pledged we will continue to monitor the situation as the PH20 project develops.”
The figures presented by council in this response, and as part of their survey, include 1,324 spaces at the out-of-town St Catherine’s Retail Park.
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