The PH2O project would have seen the current leisure pool and Dewars Centre razed and a new joint centre built in its place.

But with only £10m raised in challenging financial times, the project has been significantly scaled back.

A spokesperson for operators Live Active Leisure, said: “The funding shortfall means there will be a hold on the upgrade of Dewars Centre, although that is still a long-term aspiration of the project.

“Plans have had to be revised for the leisure pool.”

It had been hoped the sports hub would cater for 20 different activities for 250,000 users per year, generating £2.5m for the local economy.

Jim Moyes, CEO of Live Active Leisure said: “We are excited that we are approaching the next key stage of realising fantastic facilities for Perth and Kinross and we will continue our endeavours to secure further funding support. I am confident that the funds we have secured will allow an impressive step forward which will go a long way to enhancing the experience of local users, schools, clubs and visitors.”

Mike Robinson, Project Board Chairman, added: “We are doing everything we can to raise the full £25m but as time progresses we recognise that we need to be realistic and balance this with the need to improve and upgrade facilities. On that basis we are looking at all the costs of each component part of the scheme and developing priorities to identify those that will provide greatest benefit in case we can’t bring the scheme forward in its entirety.”