Two major Perth and Kinross Council building projects are under threat due to budget constraints.
Council chiefs are recommending councillors pause progression with the approved and long-awaited Blairgowrie Recreation Centre as costs soar by £9.3 million to £36 million.
Plans to replace Perth Leisure Pool and Dewars Centre with the much talked about PH20 centre could also be put on hold as construction inflation sees its estimated costs spike from £90 to £110 million.
Perth and Kinross councillors will meet to set PKC's 2023/24 budget on Wednesday, March 1 - the tightest budget to date.
PKC is faced with plugging a £31 million funding gap to achieve a balanced budget. A raft of cuts have been proposed as well as pressing pause on two of the council's biggest projects. Both were set to be Passivhaus projects with the new Blairgowrie Rec set to be Scotland's first Passivhaus pool and recreational facility.
Delivering all of PKC's capital programme which includes Perth High School, the Cross Tay Link Road and Perth Museum - all of which are now under way - is no longer affordable.
The revenue budget papers published this week propose pausing Blairgowrie Recreation Centre pending further review of the investment needs of the Blairgowrie community. The existing £26.7 million approved and budgeted for the project would be retained pending the review's outcome.
And PKC's chief executive Thomas Glen and Finance chief Stewart Mackenzie recommended pausing the development and delivery of the Passivhaus PH2O project. The previously budgeted £90 million would also be retained pending the outcome of a review.
The Blairgowrie Recreation Centre project has been beset with delay after delay.
Councillors finally unanimously approved plans in August 2022 and were told the building would open in summer 2024.
The approved design was a two-storey building on a site which forms part of the school's playing fields. It would be used by both the local community and Blairgowrie High School and would include: a six-lane swimming pool; four-court sports hall; two-court sports hall/gymnasium; fitness suite; dance studio; several different changing facilities; offices and a PE classroom.
In addition there was to be a floodlit synthetic outdoor pitch west of the centre allowing all-year-round use.
However the full business case - going before councillors - reveals due to financial pressures on Live Active Leisure (LAL) it cannot commit to extending the facility's opening hours or programme of classes.
It states: "Due to the current financial climate LAL cannot currently commit to increasing the opening hours or improving the offer to the community. This will potentially restrict the positive impact the new facilities could have for the community."
Over the past five years £220,000 has been invested to maintain the building ensure it remains operational. The full business case states further investment will be required.
Conservative Blairgowrie and Glens councillors Bob Brawn and Caroline Shiers issued a joint statement in response.
They said: "There is an aspiration across the council to see the Recreation Centre proceed and certainly all local ward councillors have given their support for this to proceed as quickly as possible. Officers have outlined that there are challenges over the whole budget process and decisions will be made on Wednesday."
SNP councillor Tom McEwan told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the recommendation to pause the project had been made by council officers and the SNP administration was currently drafting its budget proposals.
Councillors were warned last year of the likelihood of building projects having to be dropped in order to balance the books. And SNP council leader Grant Laing pledged his commitment to the Blairgowrie project.
On November 30, 2022 the Strathtay councillor told councillors: "I think we have got some really hard decisions to make over the capital projects in the next few months.
"Blairgowrie Recreation Centre has been promised to the people of East Perthshire for many years and that will have to fit in - it will certainly be part of and forming my view."
Councillors will make these "hard decisions" as they set the cash-strapped council's budget on Wednesday, March 1.
