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Pitlochry library, leisure centre and town hall could make way for housing and move to school site

The council is proposing to amalgamate the facilities to create a school campus.

Live Active Atholl leisure centre in West Moulin Road, Pitlochry
The Atholl leisure centre in Pitlochry, could be repurposed for housing. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson

Three major community buildings in Pitlochry could be replaced in a 38-home proposal to transform the town.

Perth and Kinross Council is consulting on a plan to repurpose Pitlochry’s library, leisure centre and town hall for affordable housing.

These facilities would be amalgamated onto a single campus at Pitlochry High School.

It was one of two options presented to residents in a drop-in session on the council’s assets review at the school on Monday.

The other was to retain the town hall and reduce the number of affordable homes to 30.

In both scenarios, the council depot on Cloichard Place would be replaced with housing and Pitlochry Pavilion would be leased out to the community.

Pitlochry campus idea would create 30 or 38 homes

Both options would see the following buildings repurposed into housing:

  • Cloichard depot: 2 homes – one three-bedroom and one two-bedroom.
  • Live Active Atholl (leisure centre): 20 homes – four three-bedroom houses, 14 one-bedroom flats and two two-bedroom flats.
  • Pitlochry Library: 8 homes – three one-bedroom flats, one two-bedroom flat as well as four new two-bedroom flats on the site.

The option to additionally repurpose the town hall would create an additional 8 homes – six two-bedroom flats and two one-bedroom flats.

School library group protests at campus idea

A new group – Save Pitlochry School Library –  has been set up in protest at the plans.

“Pitlochry High School was never designed to be a community campus – it wasn’t designed with public access in mind,” said the group’s chair Sheila Blair.

“And incorporating the leisure centre and library would be devastating for the school.”

She added that the school library “is the most valuable and important area in the school.”

Sheila continued: “None of the library’s main purposes could be met if the school library was amalgamated with the public library.

“Closing the school library to combine it with the public library, and allowing general public access, would be vastly to the school’s detriment.”

Council says pupils would have regular access to facility

The campaign group’s website goes on to claim: “Schools with community libraries can only access the library facilities when open – Breadalbane Academy cannot access the library on Mondays, for example.

“As Pitlochry community library is only open one weekday, this means the school would only be able to access the library one day a week.”

However, a council spokesperson refuted this.

“The proposal is to move to a campus model in Pitlochry,” the said.

“In campuses, libraries are open to the community four days a week and to pupils five days a week. However, full details are still to be finalised.”

Pitlochry High School, East Moulin Road, Pitlochry.
Pitlochry High School may become a campus. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson

They added: “Perth and Kinross Council has been consulting with Pitlochry Community Action Trust and the former community council as it carries out a review of its property assets in Pitlochry.

“The review is to consider how we can best deliver services and the priorities of the community action plan 22-27.

“Several proposals are being put forward for consideration, including co-locating the library and leisure centre in the school to create a new Pitlochry campus.

“There are options for other buildings including repurposing to affordable housing.”

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