Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser is urging local residents to sign a petition to reopen Bell’s Sports Centre in Perth as a multi-use indoor sports venue.
This follows calls from nine major national sporting organisations along with 12 sports groups in Perth and Kinross who are asking for the full reinstatement of Bell’s as an indoor facility. The Perth and Kinross Community Sports Network (PKCSN) believes that the proposed Thimblerow sports complex is a step down from what was available at Bell’s.
Perth and Kinross Council want to build a Perth leisure centre on the most popular car park in the city. Proposals for the long-awaited PH2O do not include a dedicated leisure pool or ice rink facility.
Commenting, Mr Fraser said: “For years the Bell’s Sports Centre has been a really important asset and the provider of sports facilities such as badminton, volleyball, gymnastics and many others. It was also used as a venue hosting national events taking people from all around Scotland and parts of the UK to here in Perth, and in the process, supporting the local economy.
“Now Bell’s has been closed for more than a year due to a flooding incident and I’m really concerned that the Council don’t have plans to reopen Bell’s and are instead putting all their future plans into a new sports centre at Thimblerow in the centre of town, which will have much more limited facilities than the ones that were used here at Bell’s. This is why I’m supporting the local campaign to get Bell’s reopened.
“There is an online petition I’ve signed and I would encourage residents to do the same, because this is an asset for the city of Perth and the local county and we shouldn’t see it close. That is the message we need to send to the SNP-run Council in Perth – that people in Perth want this sports centre at Bell’s retained.”
The link for the petition to reopen Bell’s sports centre as a multi-use indoor sports facility is: https://www.change.org/p/reopen-bells-sports-centre-as-a-multi-use-indoor-sports-venue
