A new Perth leisure centre is set to be built at Thimblerow car park after councillors voted through the controversial plans.

In a long and arduous meeting on Wednesday, elected members decided on a new complex that does not include an ice rink.

An option to build full a full PH2O at Glover Street, with ice and a dedicated leisure offering, was defeated by just two votes.

The Courier looks at four key points from the decision.

1. Leisure swimming limbo

There will not be a dedicated leisure pool in the new centre.

Council officers have been asked to “explore” what leisure facilities can be “incorporated” into the planned eight-lane pool.

The Courier understands this could create the possibility of a slide but there would be no flumes that went outside the building.

In their own proposals, council officers suggested inflatables on a Saturday and Sunday would be enough provision for family swims.

In a public consultation carried out by The Courier, in which nearly 800 residents responded, leisure swimming was by far the most popular facility in all of Perth’s leisure offerings, followed by lane swimming.

A data survey we conducted also found Perth already has the lowest number of pool hours available for leisure swimmers in cities across Tayside, Fife and Stirling.

Wednesday’s decision will also have an impact on lane swimming availability, described as “already inadequate” by Perth City Swim Club.

2. Car parking maths don’t add up

Council officers admit they have not carried out a comprehensive car parking audit for Perth since 2017.

The new complex will be built at Thimblerow which is currently the home of 205 car parking spaces.

Only 70 of those will be retained for the new facility.

The plan will also see 150 homes built at the site of Perth Leisure Pool which has 200 spaces.

The original plans would have seen the removal of 174 spaces from Dewars Centre as well, resulting in a loss of 509 spaces overall.

However, with councillors now hoping the ice rink will be taken over by the curlers, it is assumed those spaces will be retained.

That leaves a shortfall of 335 spaces.

The council say they will offset these with the purchase of Kinnoull Street car park which has 555 bays.

However, that car park is already in existence and available to the public.

In addition, the local authority’s plan for Pullar House hopes to see 460 people using the building on a daily bases – an increase of 200 people per day.

There will also be 50 spaces within the car park designated solely for corporate vehicles.

3. No consultation and a lack of assessments

The council failed to hold a public consultation with residents to determine what facilities people wanted to be included in PH2O.

It was revealed in Wednesday’s meeting officers had not costed the option of refurbishing Perth Leisure Pool with its current facilities or priced the construction of an additional leisure pool as part of the PH2O complex.

They were also accused of lacking studies showing the economic impact the loss of leisure users would have due to the weakened offering in the new centre.

An equalities impact assessment was also missing.

Independent councillor Colin Stewart said: “I’m being asked to make a decision in a vacuum of knowledge in a lot of key areas.”

An “apples and oranges” comparison remark was also made over a safety issue of building at Glover Street.

When asked what the risk was for Thimblerow, the chamber was told that assessment hadn’t been carried out as there was “no detailed construction plan” for the site.

4. Financial priorities need answered

The backdrop of the watered-down version of PH2O being pushed through was set by the local authority’s chief executive Thomas Glen warning of an £11m budget shortfall in the coming years, with services and even jobs at risk.

Financial lead Scott Walker says the council’s budget could “fall off the edge of a cliff” in the next 30 years.

None of these concerns were raised in the morning session, when a new ‘wish list’ of proposals for Perth city centre were showcased and agreed on.

The vision proposed the creation of a series of quarters – such as a Station Quarter and a Harbour Quarter – with new attractions for locals and visitors.

It included the demolition of St John’s Shopping Centre and there was talk of trams and people living on houseboats at the harbour.

This was followed by the decision to purchase Pullar House, which the council currently spends £3.2m a year renting, and turn it into a public service hub.

It will cost about £10m to buy and refit.

By the afternoon, £13m couldn’t be found to build an ice rink as part of PH2O as “stark” financial warnings were laid out on repeat.

With £90m set aside in the capital budget for the long-awaited new facility, the cost of the Thimblerow complex is expected to be around £61m.

Councillor Stewart questioned why the council was scaling back projects the general public wanted.

Labour councillor Alasdair Bailey highlighted a further £32.5m that was found for the controversial Cross Tay Link Road (CTLR) in 2022.

“Money is being sunk into a field in Scone rather than on the leisure facilities,” he said.