Business plan can breathe new life into Bell's Centre

Campaigners offer option to restore iconic facility

- ALASTAIR MCNEILL

Campaigners fighting to save Perth’s iconic Bell’s Sports Centre have hatched a business plan to keep the facility running.

The Perth and Kinross Community Sports Network proposal is being sent out to every Perth and Kinross councillor.

It calls for Bell's to be reinstated and upgraded to astate-of-the-art multi-sport facility catering for a wide range of sports and physical activities for all age groups and levels “to become a visible part of the fabric of the community.”

The scheme has been described by Perthshire Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser as “viable and thorough”.

Bell’s closed following flood damage totalling £2m was caused when floodgates were left open in October 2023.

Its services - provided by arm’s-length PKC external organisation Live Active Leisure (LAL) - were transferred to the Dewars Centre and the school estate in spring last year.

One option for its future - put forward in a Perth and Kinross Council survey - is the removal of skirting around the dome and making it an unheated sports space.

The PKCSN plan states: "Bell's Sports Centre (Bell’s) has served as a vital community asset for over 50 years prior to its closure in October 2023 as a result of a serious flood.