Past and present heads of groups opposed to controversial plans to convert a Perth sports hall into a gym have asked councillors to try and put a stop to the project.
Live Active Leisure (LAL) chiefs announced their intention to spend £750,000 turning the Coaching Hall at Bell’s Sports Centre into a 100-station gym at the end of last year.
However the proposal has drawn criticism from representatives of sports clubs who say the hall’s existing sprung wooden floor provides an “ideal” surface for people playing games such as volleyball, basketball, badminton and netball.
Perth and Kinross Volleyball chairman David Munro previously pointed out the planned conversion would see players forced to train and compete in the main arena of the centre instead - where he says they are much more likely to pick up an injury if they fall hard on its tiled floor.
He also told the PA in December last year he fears the change would see the city lose out on hosting major competitions as he believes teams from other cities would not want to play on a harder surface for the very same reason.
Mr Munro has now penned a letter co-signed by past chairman of Perth Volleyball Club Ian Innes and former chairman of Perth and Kinross Sports Council Ian Brown asking councillors to attempt to block the project “before it becomes irreversible”.
The three men have said in their joint letter: “The decision taken by LAL has been taken without any consultation with those affected i.e. the clubs and individual users who will be displaced or indeed the public as a whole.
“Whenever this point has been raised LAL make reference to a public survey implying that the decision is supported by the public.
“No survey was undertaken prior to the decision and as far as we understand ... the survey LAL are referring to was a survey about the design of the proposed fitness centre.
“An important part of the LAL strategy appears to be the assumption that the displaced sports can be located elsewhere. Possibly they can after a fashion but in facilities that are built and basically operated for the schools and Perth College.
“There may come a time when all the public facilities can be pooled but we are not there yet and LAL are essentially giving up on the sports which use the Coaching Hall and are saying go elsewhere.
“An important question to be asked of those sports is not whether they can manage elsewhere but whether they would prefer to be located in the Coaching Hall which was built for them in the first place.
“Finally we have doubts about the thinking behind the project and the necessity for locating it in the Coaching Hall with the dire consequences that involves.
“There are several fitness centres in Perth and it seems to be a developing area which the private sector is amply catering for.
“If LAL thinks it can compete with the private sector and develop a new income stream why does it not look for a different venue? The building standards required are nothing like that of a sports hall.
“But we would also question whether LAL’s role is to compete with the private sector rather than concentrating on what the private sector will never provide - a sports hall.
“We worry that LAL has lost sight of its role as a sports provider for the community.”
Meanwhile, an online petition set up by Mr Munro opposing the planned conversion was attracting support. It had been signed by 2185 people yesterday.
One signee commented: “I think the decision to remove an excellent facility is a lazy, short-sighted one which is an example of yet again allowing worthwhile sports to be starved of good locations and equipment to allow them to flourish.
“If this decision is allowed to stand, I see badminton, volleyball and indoor hockey going the way of bowling, victims of the inexorable march of boring, narcissistic treadmill machines.”
Another said: “I used to live in Perth, and the Bell’s Sports Centre was very much the pride of the sporting scene in Perth. Pre-Covid this would make no sense, post-Covid, it is just nuts and an attempt at money-making.”
Chairman of LAL David Maclehose previously told the PA: “The Bell’s Sports Centre development is a project that will deliver significant benefits, a vastly improved customer fitness offer and improved financial and economic performance which will ultimately help to support the sustainability of all the services, activities, and venues we deliver across Perth and Kinross.
“The iconic domed main arena will continue to provide the equivalent of 17 badminton courts of flexible space, used for a broad range of sports, activities and events including gymnastics, table tennis, football, volleyball, floorball and hockey to name but a few.”
