Wishart launches leisure upgrade petition
Pete Wishart, SNP candidate for Perth and North Perthshire in next month’s general election, has called for progress to be made on new leisure facilities in Perth.
Mr Wishart has spent the last few days on the campaign trail launching a petition to highlight the need for the proposed PH20 project.
PH20 would see Perth Leisure Pool replaced with a new sports facility that also incorporates the neighbouring Dewars Centre ice rink.
This comes as the nearly 30-year-old leisure pool is set to close for three weeks for essential maintenance.
Funding for the project has been a longrunning saga, with a disagreement over funding at Perth and Kinross Council budget.
The opposition SNP group had wanted to see £8 million spent on PH20 - the Conservative administration however, pledged only £500,000 from its budget for PH20, saying the project needed to be explored fully before agreeing to invest any more money.
Mr Wishart is now calling for more money to be delivered for the project.
He said: “The current Perth Leisure Pool has served the people of Perth and Kinross well, but it is unacceptable that we are at a stage where the pool is needing to close at more frequent levels, just to keep the doors open.
“The latest closure of nearly three weeks really takes the biscuit.
“The money that the Tories voted to strip from this project was a real setback and I would urge them to think again about how they are going to prevent closures like this in the future.
“Perth really needs upgraded leisure facilities and the Tories need to sort this out.
“I have started a petition, which I would encourage Perth and Kinross residents to sign, in order to show the strength of feeling on this subject.”
Mr Wishart’s petition can be viewed online at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/LPGVZJJ