Campaigners accuse council of running 'misleading' consultation on Bell's Sports Centre in Perth
The local authority's survey asked the public if they would like to see the facility reopened as an unheated events space with 3G sports pitches.
However, Perth and Kinross Community Sports Network (PKCSN) argue the wording of the consultation is inherently flawed as it provided no option for people to vote on the reopening of the facility as an indoor sports venue.
Instead, the public were simply asked to leave a comment with other ideas.
PKCSN believe respondents could have believed it was a choice between unheated or nothing.
With nearly 2,000 votes, the consultation results show a 60/40 split for people said 'Yes' to the unheated idea.
But a further breakdown of results obtained through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request show that some of those who voted 'Yes' also commented that they would prefer a fully heated reinstated Bell's.
Bill Powrie, campaigner with PKCSN, has a petition to save Bell's which demands it is reopened as multi-use indoor sports venue.
It has already garnered over 3,700 signatures.
He believes this means that the vast majority of people who have responded to either the consultation or petition are in favour of reinstating the facility as a fully-heated indoor sports venue.
Bill told The Courier: 'The survey was misleading.
'If you combine the results of the survey and my petition then 78% are still in favour of indoor.'
A report written by council officers ahead of the consultation also appears to suggest the local authority only ever wanted to consider an unheated option.
An appendix to the report concludes: 'It is recommended that community engagement is undertaken on the future of Bell's through a survey and supporting communication campaign to encourage participation.
'Survey options to include:
'Do nothing beyond essential maintenance requirements which are the
responsibility of the owner of a Category B listed structure.
'Convert the dome to an unheated event space/ multi-use sports pitch
venue.
'Invite community suggestions for other unheated use.'
Bill also slammed the estimated cost of the unheated option of £5m to £6m which is contained in the same report.
Bill said: 'I don't believe that £5m to £6m represents good value for money for a few artificial football pitches.'
The future of Bell's is set to go before councillors again next month.
A council spokesperson said: 'Almost 2,000 people responded to the consultation on the future of Bell's Sports Centre.
'A summary of responses has been provided to councillors and will be used to inform our proposals for the sports centre when they are presented to council in June.
'Question five of the survey asked respondents if they agreed with the proposal to turn Bell's (into) an unheated sports centre.
'Question six asked those who disagreed with the proposal what uses they proposed instead.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
STV News
3 hours ago
- STV News
£800m to be spent on dualling less than a third of A9
More than £800 million will be spent on the A9 dualling project before a third of it is completed, critics have claimed. To date, the SNP has spent over £520m on the A9 dualling project, with a further £300m planned by April 2027, according to figures obtained through Freedom of Information requests. The SNP first committed to fully dualling the A9 between Perth and Inverness in 2011, with a completion date set for 2025. Ministers scrapped that target in December 2023, admitting the dualling would be delayed by a decade. So far, only two of the 11 sections on the A9 between Perth and Inverness have been completed: Kincraig to Dalraddy and Luncarty to Pass of Birnam. The Tomatin to Moy section has only recently entered construction and was planned for 2027, but is now not expected until spring 2028. The other eight sections remain in planning, design, or procurement stages. One year after awarding the contract for the Tomatin to Moy stretch, Scotland's transport secretary visited the site on Monday to meet with workers. Fiona Hyslop said work is 'progressing well' and defended the updated timescales rollout. She said the work is on target and added that drivers will already see improvements as changes are made to the A9. '[The staged dualling approach] is a practical way of making sure we can get delivery of 50% of A9 dualled for 2030, 85% by 2033, and completion of 100% by 2035,' Hyslop said. 'We've looked into every option, this is the best option. From now on, you're going to start seeing work at the north of the A9 as well as the south of the A9.' Shadow transport secretary Sue Webber argued that the SNP's ongoing failure to dual the lifeline road is a 'national shame' and urged SNP ministers to apologise to Scots for wasting this 'eye-watering' amount of money while no progress has been made. 'They've managed to squander £800 million of taxpayers' money and still not even a third of the A9 is dualled,' she said. 'As costs soar and progress stalls, more and more lives are being lost on the A9. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Spectator
7 hours ago
- Spectator
Revealed: Mental health claims see Foreign Office absences soar
Back to the UK's bloated civil service. As if the government didn't have enough on its plate trying to slash Whitehall red tape, the number of sick days taken by civil servants won't help Sir Keir Starmer's army pick up the pace on progress. Civil servant absences are on track to reach a record high – and the Foreign Office is no exception to the trend. Mr S can reveal the number of sick days taken by David Lammy's mandarins shot up by more than 50 per cent in the financial year ending March 2024 compared to the previous year – while the number of days lost to mental health issues soared by more than three-quarters. A Freedom of Information response has shown that in the period from April 2023-March 2024, almost 30,000 days were lost to sick leave within the Foreign Office department, a rise of 51.4 per cent on the previous year. 8,400 days were lost to mental health issues within the department – a surge of 77.3 per cent on the year before – while those civil servants requiring sickness leave on mental health grounds rose to 254 in 2023-24, a 65 per cent increase on the previous financial year. These rather staggering absence rises are despite the total number of Foreign Office staff increasing between the years by just 500 people. Good heavens… Remarking on the revelation, the TaxPayers' Alliance's investigations manager Joanna Marchong noted: While families up and down the country are working hard and paying their bills, civil servants are increasingly absence for any reason in the book. Ministers must get a grip and ensure that the Foreign Office is run with the same discipline expected in private sector workplaces. It's unacceptable that civil servants don't show up. The findings come after central department data published earlier this month found that mandarin absences in 2025 could work out at more than eight days a year per employee. Last year, the average number of days off per worker was 4.4 – but this year, departmental reports are suggesting that the number of average days lost per worker could soar past the all-time high of 8.3 days per person, reached in the post-pandemic period of 2023. Staff sickness rates increased by 11.8 per cent in the year to March 2025 at the Home Office, while the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government saw absences shoot up by 12 per cent. Perhaps Starmer had a point when he insisted 'too many people in Whitehall are comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline', eh?
Daily Mirror
10 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
DWP confirms date as bank accounts to be checked
DWP has confirmed the start date for powers it is calling 'the biggest fraud crackdown in a generation' Banks will be ordered to trawl through millions of accounts from April 2026 in a sweeping crackdown designed to root out benefits cheats. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed the start date for powers it is calling 'the biggest fraud crackdown in a generation'. The new system, created under the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, will let banks flag up accounts that appear to breach benefit rules, such as holding more than the £16,000 savings limit for Universal Credit. Officials will not see detailed transactions, but will be alerted if accounts raise suspicions. The DWP claims the scheme will save taxpayers £1.5 billion over five years after losses from benefits fraud and error hit a record £7.4 billion last year. A fact sheet released by ministers stressed: 'Any information shared through the Eligibility Verification Measure will not be shared on the presumption or suspicion that anyone is guilty of any offence.' It insisted the department will not have direct access to people's bank details but banks will be obliged to pass on alerts. At the same time, the law gives the Government tough new powers to recover money from fraudsters, including taking funds directly from bank accounts and, in cases of persistent refusal to repay, banning offenders from driving for up to two years. The measures were unveiled as Labour's Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall attacked the current system. She said: 'The social security system that we inherited from the Conservatives is failing the very people that it is supposed to help and is holding our country back. 'The facts speak for themselves. One in 10 people of working age are now claiming a sickness or disability benefit. Almost one million young people are not in education, employment or training – one in eight of all our young people.' Critics, however, warn the plans risk ushering in 'mass financial surveillance' of claimants and could wrongly penalise vulnerable households. The DWP insists the focus is on clamping down on fraudsters who cost honest taxpayers billions - but campaigners argue the changes mark a dangerous step towards banks acting as watchdogs over private finances. Silkie Carlo, Director, Big Brother Watch, said: 'These powers are a disaster for financial privacy and the presumption of innocence... This is a completely unprecedented regime of intrusive generalised financial surveillance across the population.'
