Perth’s Thimblerow car park could be axed to make way for the city’s long-overdue new leisure centre.
Council bosses are proposing the all-new site for the PH2O venue as part of wider efforts to bring more people into Perth city centre.
Bell’s Sports Centre and Dewars ice rink could also be saved following a public backlash against plans to close them.
And 150-250 affordable homes could be built on the land currently occupied by Dewars and Perth Leisure Pool.
Perth and Kinross councillors will be asked to vote through a package of measures next week.
They include:
• Building PH2O on Thimblerow, and not at the existing Perth Leisure Pool/Dewars site off Glasgow Road.
• Buying Kinnoull Street Car Park and taking over its management from the unpopular Smart Parking company.
• Purchasing the Pullar House council offices next door to the car park, which it currently rents for £3.2 million-a-year. The council could buy and refit the building for £10m and turn it into a new ‘public service hub’ with other local agencies sharing the space.
New homes – and new life for Bell’s – part of Perth leisure centre package
Backers say these three moves could bring thousands more people into the city centre.
And this could help to regenerate the area and boost opportunities for local traders.
It would also free up land at the Perth Leisure Pool/Dewars site for the council to build much-needed new affordable homes.
A report to the full council says the Thimblerow option has been costed at £61 million. That’s less than the cost of rebuilding at Glasgow road.
The centre would feature a traditional swimming pool, but no ice rink, or leisure water, which campaigners have called for.
But by building there, the council could keep the leisure pool and Dewars centre open throughout construction.
In a further surprise move, councillors will also be asked to agree to consult the public on a plan to re-open Bell’s as an unheated arena with pitches and courts for a variety of sports.
The North Inch venue has been closed since it was wrecked in last October’s floodgates fiasco.
Its gym equipment has since been moved to the Dewars centre.
But the council says a £6m programme of Scottish Water sewer and drainage works planned for the area means it can overcome the flood risk and reopen.
Council leader to present alternative Perth leisure centre proposal
Officers will recommend councillors agree to the above moves when the full council meets next Wednesday.
They will also be asked to support the redevelopment of the Perth Leisure Pool/Dewars Centre site to make way for up to 250 homes on completion of works at Thimblerow.
The report asks councillors to accept there is no sustainable case for an ice rink in the plans. Its construction would add at least £13m to the final bill and incur high energy costs in future.
But The Courier can reveal council leader Grant Laing is intending to submit a motion which would save Dewars from the bulldozers.
He wants to offer it to local curlers on a peppercorn rent so they can operate it themselves.
This would still leave space for about 150 new homes, he says.
But it would also keep an ice rink in Perth and uphold the city’s reputation as the home of curling.
Mr Laing’s amendment also calls on officers to go back to the drawing board to see if they can create additional space for leisure water at a Thimblerow centre.
Its omission was one of the most controversial elements in the PH2O plans revealed in January.
The Courier has been campaigning for the council to build an ambitious new centre that caters for all sports, including leisure swimming and curling.
And our independent survey found leisure swimming was by far the most popular activity among the 800 people who responded.
Speaking to The Courier this week, Mr Laing said: “Hopefully we can get agreement across the chamber, so we can finally move on with this project for the benefit of the residents of Perth and Kinross.”
Fresh urgency for long-delayed plans
The idea for PH2O was first mooted in 2014.
It was mothballed in 2023, but resurfaced when controversial plans to close Perth Leisure Pool and the ageing Bell’s and Dewars centres emerged at the start of this year.
A fresh proposal has been in the works since January when councillors rejected plans for a venue that did not include leisure swimming or ice.
Until now, the assumption had been that a new centre would be built on the Perth Leisure Pool/Dewars site.
However, the collapse of a £30m retail and cinema plan for Thimblerow in 2020 has brought that location into play.
The car park has long been zoned for residential, leisure or retail redevelopment.
For the proposals to proceed, the full council will have to agree to them when members meet next Wednesday.
That’s far from a done deal. But the clock is ticking on the package.
Perth and Kinross Council only has until September 10 to decide if it does want to exercise its right to buy Pullar House and Kinnoull Street car park.
This is under the terms of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) it signed up to when they were built.
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