Two multi-million pound Perth and Kinross Council building projects are under threat due to budget constraints.
Council chiefs are recommending councillors press pause on 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-vaunted PH20 centre are also on hold as construction inflation costs see it spike from £90m to £110m.
Perth and Kinross councillors will meet to set PKC’s 2023/24 budget on Wednesday - the tightest budget to date.
PKC is faced with plugging a £31m funding gap to achieve a balanced budget.
Delivering all of PKC’s capital programme which also includes Perth High School, the Cross Tay Link Road and Perth Museum – all of which are now under way – is no longer said to be 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.
PKC’s chief executive Thomas Glen and head of finance Stewart Mackenzie also recommended pausing the development and delivery of the PH2O project. The previously budgeted £90m would also be retained pending the outcome of a review.
The now the £36m Blairgowrie Recreation Centre has been beset with delays.
Councillors finally unanimously approved plans in August 2022 and were told the building would open next summer in 2024.
The approved design was to build a two-storey building on a site which forms part of the school’s playing fields. It would be used by 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.
Councillors will make a final decision when they set the budget next Wednesday.
