COURIER OPINION: Dundee and Perth swimming pools deserve same government protection as those in England

The prolonged closure of Dundee’s Olympia centre, combined with increasing uncertainty over the future of Perth Leisure Pool, has demonstrated just how vital these facilities are to the communities they serve.

In his Budget speech yesterday, the chancellor announced a multi-million-pound fund to help keep swimming pools in England facing an energy-related costs crisis open.

Private gyms and pools are an expense beyond the means of many hard-pressed families these days.

It is therefore more imperative than ever that access to good quality public facilities is maintained at reasonable cost.

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes pledged that if she becomes first minister later this month she will work with councils to help keep Scottish pools open.

That is the very least the public should expect of any of the SNP leadership candidates.

Swimming is a life skill and a fantastic form of exercise that needs to be encouraged and invested in, not curtailed.

Through bitter experience, the people of Dundee and Perth know that only too well.