Perth and Kinross Council’s Liberal Democrat leader has thrown his weight behind new Thimblerow leisure centre plans.
Perth city centre councillor Peter Barrett says it’s time to “move on” from debates over where to house the new swimming pool, and what the leisure centre should include.
First mooted in January 2014, PH2O promised to cater for 20 sports and include an ice rink, swimming pool, gymnasium and outdoor climbing wall.
But the plans for a new site at Thimblerow, put forward last year, did not include leisure waters, ice rink or indoor bowls, sparking a campaign against the proposals.
Mr Barrett and his fellow Liberal Democrat councillors voted with the SNP administration to approve the Thimblerow location last September.
But they were also instrumental in securing a re-think on its facilities.
He says he is satisfied with the revised plans, which include indoor flumes and a large water play area, as well as an eight-lane swimming pool, teaching pool, indoor play area, games hall, gym and cafe.
But members of the Perth and Kinross Community Sports Network (PKCSN), which represents 12 sporting bodies in the area, have labelled the plans “cobbled together and not fit for purpose”.
And campaigners say they’ll stage a protest outside Perth and Kinross Council HQ on Wednesday morning.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s vote on the £74 million plan, Mr Barrett says the revised design goes “way beyond” what was proposed last year.
And he claims giving in to demands to build the new council venue at Glover Street, where the existing Perth Leisure Pool and Dewars Centre are based, would cost too much and could lead to job losses – “the worst of all worlds”.
The council says the cost of building even just the pre-approved design has already risen by £5m in the 10 months it has remained on the drawing board.
Mr Barrett said: “I want to be clear to the advocates for Glover Street that costs will go up by that again, and more, if we go back to the drawing board once again.
“But more damaging than that would be the impact of closing Perth Leisure Pool and Dewars rinks in order to build the PH2O complex at Glover Street.
“That would be the worst of all worlds: The loss of Live Active Leisure jobs, no swimming and years of interruption to curling which the curlers are unlikely to ever recover from.”
Mr Barrett insists he and colleagues have listened to critics.
But he says this is an opportunity for the council “to deliver the very best sports and leisure facilities that it can, at a price that it can afford”.
Alasdair Bailey, the sole Labour member on Perth and Kinross Council, has already said he will support the new pool plan on Wednesday.
Mr Bailey was one of the 18 Conservative, independent and Labour councillors who voted against the Thimblerow option last September.
Their alternative – a separate leisure pool and ice rink in PH2O and further exploration of the Glover Street location – was defeated by the SNP and Lib Dems’ 20 votes.
The political makeup of the council changed later that month when the SNP and Lib Dems won two by-elections.
There are now 17 SNP councillors, 13 Conservatives, five Lib Dems, four independents and one for Labour.
Thimblerow centre just one piece of jigsaw
The new PH2O plans are part of a £97m package of measures.
The new proposal also includes a £13.2m investment in the public swimming baths in Crieff and Kinross.
Another £10m would be spent on turning Bell’s Sports Centre into an unheated multi-use venue and removing RAAC and asbestos from the building.
If the package is approved, Capability Scotland will move services from its ageing Upper Springland campus to the site of the demolished Perth Leisure Pool.
The council is also in discussions with Scottish Curling which could see the sports body take over the running of the Dewars Centre.
The Courier has been campaigning for an ambitious new leisure complex in Perth that caters for all sports, including leisure swimming and curling.
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