A Perth and Kinross councillor has called for financial investment to bring national sports competitions back to Perth.
Following the closure of the city’s Bell’s Sports Centre in the summer, several tournaments which took place there are now being held elsewhere in Scotland.
Cllr Frank Smith has made an appeal to bring the empty sports venue back into use and capitalise on the “huge potential out there”.
The Conservative councillor – who as a former golf pro at Craigie Hill Golf Club is passionate about sport – told councillors of his sadness at seeing national competitions disappearing from the Perth stage.
At a meeting of Perth and Kinross Council’s Scrutiny and Performance Committee on Wednesday, November 20 the Amond and Earn ward councillor asked Live Active Leisure’s chief executive what was being done to attract large sports events to the Fair City.
Cllr Smith said: “There are a lot of new sports appearing all the time. My feeling is what are you doing in terms of bringing tournaments to this area?
“For example, we have to go to Toryglen, Ravenscraig to play different competitions. What have you got events planning so you can set up something in the future for us?”
Chief executive Paul Cromwell told councillors venue options were now limited following the closure of Bell’s Sports Centre.
The decision to close Bell’s was taken due to financial pressures and repeated flooding of the venue, most significantly in October 2023 when several flood gates on the Perth Flood Prevention Scheme were not closed in time.
At Wednesday’s meeting Mr Cromwell said: “Obviously we are much more limited now without Bell’s. It’s not something we can do small-scale – competitions.
“Obviously where you require a seated capacity -which is a significant requirement sometimes in terms of competitions and tournaments and making them financially affordable – obviously we’re very limited in terms of that capacity at the moment.
“In terms of competitions and events we used to previously hold at Bell’s, to the best of my knowledge those organisations have managed to find alternative venues elsewhere in Scotland. Most of them were national events rather than local events.”
On September 4, councillors voted to progress plans to build Perth’s new replacement leisure facility PH2O at Thimblerow Car Park. The £61 million energy-efficient facility will feature an eight-lane 25m pool, 12.5m x 8.5m teaching pool (both with movable floors), an indoor play area, games hall, gym, studios and café. Perth Leisure Pool will be demolished and the site developed into affordable housing. While curling bodies have been offered the chance to run the neighbouring Dewars Centre for a next-to-nothing rent.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Conservative councillor Angus Forbes questioned whether PH2O was “an appropriate name” for the “watered down” PH2O project. Previous plans included both an ice rink and leisure pool with flumes.
Picking up on the point, Cllr Smith said: “I think because we’ve now got such a watered down situation with PH2O, I think we’ve got to look at bringing Bell’s Sports Centre back into some sort of use so we can encourage the future tournaments, etc.
“There’s a huge potential out there and it’s such a shame we have to go away to other venues. I just hope in the future we start putting more money into infrastructure for sporting facilities.”