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Perth & Kinross

Protect Perth Leisure: A Courier campaign to build facilities our future generations deserve

Take our survey and have your say on what you would like to see in a new Perth swimming pool and leisure facility.
Sean O'Neil
Dewars Centre and Perth Leisure Pool.
Dewars Centre and Perth Leisure Pool. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson

Perth deserves a swimming pool and leisure facility to be proud of.

A flagship centre for residents and visitors to relax, compete and take part in the sports they love.

It should be a  place for families to take their children and a complex capable of nurturing and hosting top level athletes.

Olympic swimmer Stephen Milne with pupils from Methven Primary at Perth Leisure Pool.
Olympic swimmer Stephen Milne with pupils from Methven Primary at Perth Leisure Pool. Image: Kris Miller/DCT Media.

Throughout the years, the Fair City has over-achieved on the world sports stage, producing multiple Olympic and Commonwealth medallists, both in swimming and on the ice-rink.

Curling is steeped in the history of the city while the pool is often packed out with leisure and lane swimmers.

A new vision in August

At the beginning of this year, Perth and Kinross Council proposed closing Perth Leisure Pool, Dewars Centre and Bell’s Sports Centre and merge them into one facility.

The idea, known as PH20 by those involved, has been floating around since 2014.

When it was first mooted over a decade ago, the new facility was supposed to be a game-changer.

Curling Mixed Doubles championship at Dewars Centre in February 2024. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson

It would be a centre that would provide all of Perth’s sporting and leisure needs under one roof.

That idea never materialised and what was presented by the local authority earlier this year was a watered down version that did little justice to the needs of the people of Perth.

It would have been a building with no curling or leisure pool.

Thankfully, councillors unanimously rejected the proposal, telling those creating the plan to come back with a new one, a better one, in August.

The Courier is now campaigning to have curling, leisure and lane swimming at the forefront of any new facility.

Protect Perth Leisure: Opportunity to build something great

What Perth and Kinross Council have now is an opportunity to be ambitious.

A chance to build that flagship facility for the people of Perth that was promised so many years ago.

A complex that will inspire the next generation to get active and enjoy all the health benefits, physical and mental, that come with it.

A centre that will put Perth on the sporting map, bringing in the visitor numbers that come with being able to host elite level competition.

Olympian Eve Muirhead is backing The Courier’s campaign. Image: Mhairi Edwards/DC Thomson

The Courier wants to see that happen.

We want to showcase why Perth deserves, and needs, a leisure facility to be proud of.

The first step is to ask you, our readers, what you believe should be included in the new plans.

Take our survey and let us amplify your voice to protect Perth leisure facilities for the future generations.

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