Olympic champion Eve Muirhead wants the Dewars Centre to be handed back to the curling community after the council’s new leisure centre plans left Perth without an ice rink.
The curling star believes a Community Asset Transfer (CAT) of the iconic facility would allow for the creation of an ice-sport arena that also caters for hockey and skating.
It’s a move backed by Scottish Curling CEO Vincent Bryson who told The Courier a CAT would be “the most interesting option” for his organisation.
On Wednesday, we revealed that council officers want to build a new PH2O facility at Thimblerow car park that has no ice or leisure water facilities.
In response, Council Leader Grant Laing put forward a second option of renting the Dewars Centre to the curling community for a peppercorn rate while asking council officers to create additional space for leisure water at Thimblerow.
Meanwhile, Provost Xander McDade has proposed building an “ambitious” new leisure centre at Glover Street that has both an ice rink arena and leisure swimming.
Too much focus on curling in report
Speaking to The Courier, Eve said she thought the council had focussed too much on curling without looking at the bigger picture of ice sports overall.
She said: “I think there is a real opportunity to focus on ice sports as a whole and take skating and hockey into the equation, that appears to be missing from all the council papers.
“Three sports using a facility such as an ice pad will mean, yes, it’s more profitable, but more importantly, Perth can be a real home for all ice sports.
“How it is done? We could look at community asset transfer.
“If the council were to facilitate a community asset transfer back to the curling community that could be transformative as other partners – for example World Curling – may be inclined to offer capital support to revitalise the Dewars Centre and make it a world class arena.”
Research failed to explore multi-sport options
Scottish Curling CEO, Mr Bryson, believes a multi-sport arena achieved through a Community Asset Transfer should be considered.
He told The Courier he was grateful to the council leader and the Provost who had put forward solutions to try and keep an ice facility in the Fair City.
However, Mr Bryson foreseen problems with the peppercorn rent option as he would struggle to generate funding for a short-term lease.
He said: “I’m grateful to elected members for igniting the debate around the myriad of options to retain ice in Perth, but for us its always been a multi-sport solution.
“If we, as a consortium of Scottish Curling and other partners, were to take on a CTA of the Dewars building – that would potentially excite other partners to invest capital over a longer period.”
The curling chief was surprised that council officers hadn’t explored the opportunities a multi-sport ice pad could bring in the report that was put forward for consideration.
Mr Bryson said his organisation was “aligned” with the Provost’s viewpoint of having an arena solution to the issue.
“There was a real focus on curling in all the options that were presented,” he said.
“But when I spoke to the chamber in January with (curling champion) Pete Loudon, we talked about any solution as a multi-sport solution.
“There’s a market for skating and there’s a market for ice hockey.
“I was a bit surprised that didn’t come through in the research.
“It was really good to see what the Provost had to say, I’m grateful that he’s encouraging an innovative solution that includes ice in some way.”
The Courier has been campaigning for the council to build an ambitious new centre that caters for all sports, including leisure swimming and curling.
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