Free parking at the pool to come to halt
The Dewars Centre car park, pictured on Thursday morning of this week The last remaining large free parking zone near Perth city centre looks set to become charged later this year.
On Wednesday, bosses at Live Active Leisure (LAL) revealed that after years of not charging for parking at Perth Leisure Pool, plans were in motion to protect spaces for users of the facility and the neighbouring Dewars Centre.
Mike Robinson, chairman of LAL’s board of directors, told members of Perth and Kinross Council’s scrutiny committee that commuters often left their cars at the site and walked into the centre.
It meant that by 9am families arriving to use the pool were unable to find a convenient parking spot.
Mr Robinson said that after “wrestling with the problem for some time”, LAL would be looking to charge in a bid to deter those not using the leisure facilities who took advantage of the current no fee situation.
“The Live Active Leisure board plans to introduce parking controls by the summer to protect customers.
He added: “Any parking charge would need to take into consideration the admission cost already in place for customers to use facilities at Dewars Robinson LAL chair Mike
and the swimming pool.
“We will spend considerable time engaging with customers, I believe bringing in a financial control on parking will be well received.”