COURIER OPINION: Perth leisure centre fiasco is sign of council in chaos

There’s not much of a tide at Perth Leisure Pool – but if there was the local authority would be swimming against it.

Perth and Kinross Council’s decision to build the long-awaited new leisure centre at Thimbelrow has been a disaster so far.

The backlash against the proposal has been swift and damning – at the time of writing nearly 2,000 people have objected to it via a petition started by a former employee.

And now the council faces a further headache with the possibility of the current Glover Street facility being re-considered for listed building status.

These are problems completely of their own making.

Their own officers failed to correctly inform Historic Environment Scotland (HES) of their plans for the site.

Council said one thing but did another

Council bosses told HES in July that plans were at an advanced stage to demolish Perth Leisure Pool and build PH20 in its place.

By August, the new leisure centre was going to be erected at Thimblerow and 150 houses were to be built at the Glover Street site.

HES made a decision, based on that July correspondence, not to list Perth Leisure Pool as a Category B building.

That decision is now up in the air due to the actions of those strolling the corridors of 2 Hight Street.

Council officers can argue that the July letter reflected years of talks and plans – but the fact is, they said they were going to do one thing then did another.

They are now finding out words – especially those written down an officially sent to government heritage agencies – have consequences.

Communication breakdown

Perhaps the best defence those responsible for the July letter can have is that their slip-up is in keeping with the general tone of Perth and Kinross Council right now.

Earlier this month, a Scottish Water spokesperson hinted that the lines of communication between the council’s flood team and the council’s planning team might be somewhat blocked.

Gavin Steel was being questioned on why a £2m plan of improvement works to prevent future flooding around Bell’s Sports Centre came as “a surprise” to council officers.

Had the officials not been caught unaware, it might have prevented the closure of the popular North Inch facility.

Mr Steel suggested that was an internal problem at the local authority.

He said: “There is certainly a lot of engagement between our flooding team and the council’s flooding team.

“But I guess the Bell’s decision-making will have been happening in a different part of the council.”

The Scottish Water spokesperson believed personnel changes may have been a factor.

A lot of ins and outs in senior positions

And there certainly has been movement, the general air of a high-salaried hokey cokey.

A restructure of the executive team earlier this year saw Alison Williams arriving as the £128k-a-year director of economy, place and learning in February.

By July, her direct understudy David Littlejohn was quitting his £105k-per-annum role.

Now Ms Williams has gone to “explore other opportunities”, the entire director role scrapped, and Mr Littlejohn is staying on until next year.

And all that’s without talking about the changes to the actual council chamber after Thursday’s double by-election.

No wonder there’s the odd mix-up about where one is planning to build a major new leisure centre.

This latest heritage headache should be seen as an opportunity for council to turn their back on Thimblerow.

A chance to swim with the tide of public approval.