A heartbroken mother who raised £35,000 for Dunkeld’s new leisure centre in memory of her son said she is ”disgusted” the project is being blocked.
Kate Stansfield then Kate Wallace spent six months gathering the astonishing total after 10-year-old Robbie Melvin was killed by a car as he cycled near the village in 2005.
She donated the impressive sum which included a £5,000 donation from Harry Potter author JK Rowling to the Dunkeld and Birnam Leisure Group for its new sports centre.
She had hoped a climbing wall or similar facility could be dedicated to her sports-mad son. So she was distraught to hear the leisure centre plans have been blocked by Dunkeld and Birnam Recreation Group, on whose land the building work was due to take place.
Robbie, from Dalguise, died following a collision with a car as he rode along the B898 road from Dunkeld to Grandtully on September 30 2005.
Kate said: ”I did a sponsored walk and raffle shortly after Robbie died and the whole community came out to support it. I literally had children coming up to me in the street and giving me their £1 pocket money and showing how much they cared.
”I got £5,000 from JK Rowling and another £5,000 from a charity in the village. The number of people who then came out for the walk was staggering and the money just kept coming in.
”I handed the money over five years ago and have lived with the hope it would go to a memorial. After all that hard work and effort by the whole community, it’s unbelievable someone could take that away from us.”
Land next to the recreation club was pinpointed for the project, which has had outline planning permission since 1998. A total of £100,000, including Kate’s donation, is in the bank.
But an extraordinary general meeting of the recreation group comprising the tennis and bowling clubs passed two motions.
The first stated no other club should build on recreation club land and the second that no land should be sold. It meant the area, bought for a nominal fee from Atholl Estates, cannot now be used, provoking fury from the leisure group.CommunityKate, who drove the school bus in Dunkeld and has since moved to Sussex, said: ”When I heard a small group of people are going to block the leisure centre going ahead, I couldn’t believe it. The whole community pulled together to support me through a very difficult time.
”It’s a close community and they do everything to support each other, which is quite an incredible thing. I was told the leisure centre probably wouldn’t go ahead now and I thought it was disgusting.
”Why wait so long to do this after all the work and money that has gone into it? For a small group to block something like this is scandalous.”
Recreation club secretary Meg Sheret explained the vote was taken after advice from a solicitor that it could be held responsible for the centre if it is built on its land.
The leisure group has made clear it does not want to run any club, only build it for a future organisation to control.
She said: ”It is true that the land was given to the recreation club for a nominal sum 30 years ago, although the club itself has been in existence on the same site for over 100 years.
”Some members felt that the land should continue to be controlled by the recreation club for the purpose for which is was given, and not sold off.”
She said: ”In future, the recreation club will seek to do its own development for the benefit of the Dunkeld and Birnam community.”
But Kate said: ”It seems silly to start looking at another project now. The money and planning are all there so just go ahead and get it done.”