Leisure chief says "prompt" delivery of Perth's new PH2O centre and its sports hall is "critical"

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All of the sports clubs displaced by the closure of Bell's Sports Centre have now been found a new home.

However a small number of requests from other groups who meet during school time could not be met by Live Active Leisure.

Live Active Leisure's chief has stressed the "prompt" delivery of a sports hall within Perth's long-awaited new PH2O leisure centre is "critical to meet future demand".

Chief executive Paul Cromwell was providing an update to Perth and Kinross Council's Scrutiny and Performance Committee on Wednesday, November 20.

On August 31 Live Active Leisure withdrew its leisure services from Bell's Sports Centre and moved its gym and fitness studios to Dewars Centre.

The closure of Bell's Sports Centre vastly reduced Perth's indoor sports hall space.

In a report presented to the committee, chief executive Paul Cromwell told councillors: "This presented a real possibility that demand for such facilities could exceed their availability.

"The remaining sports halls in Perth City are all located in schools with those at North Inch and Glenearn Community Campuses managed by LAL (Live Active Leisure) and the rest managed by PKC (Perth and Kinross Council)."

In total, Live Active Leisure was asked to reallocate 90 different block booking requests from around 60 different groups.

Mr Cromwell told the committee: "Of the requests received from different groups we were able to make an offer of space to almost 100 per cent of them: 100 per cent of the offers made were for the day requested, 96 per cent of the offers made were for the size of the space that was requested, 99 per cent of the offers made were for within one hour of the time requested.

"We were happy to be able to offer space to all PACES [Perth and Kinross Accredited Club Excellence Scheme] registered clubs that requested a booking."

But room for growth is tight with Mr Cromwell describing "pinch points" in terms of access during the day and future growth.

He added: " However, it is important to note that whilst this year, we have been able to find a balance between the coached, club and casual access to indoor sports halls, there is very limited scope for growth within the existing estate and the inclusion of a sports hall within a promptly delivered PH2O is critical to meet future demand."

Following the meeting, a Live Active Leisure spokesperson confirmed there had been a challenge finding a suitable venue for a "small number" of groups.

The spokesperson said: "As part of an exercise to maximise use of the remaining estate conducted over the summer, all PACES registered clubs who applied for a let were offered a space within the public estate in line with their request. The small number of requests that couldn’t be accommodated were not from sports clubs and were requests for access during the day Monday to Friday which remains a challenge to accommodate given that the remaining halls are in schools. These groups were put in touch with other providers."

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