A full meeting of Perth and Kinross Council was told that building the ice rink would add £19 million to the cost of the project.

Muirhead led the Great Britain women’s team to gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and joined the Dewars Centre’s volunteer board in November 2022.

She said: “One moment we have the freedom of Perth, murals on the walls, Olympic champions.

“And then give it a few months and suddenly we don’t include ice rinks, which is difficult, especially when we want to get young people involved in sports.”

Council leader Grant Laing told the meeting: “In these difficult financial times, it is vital that we make decisions that are both prudent and will leave a lasting impact.

“I, like all of us, would like to be able to promise that a recreation center will be built there, where you can sing and dance, as well as an ice rink.

“But we have to face the current situation.

“We have almost 6,000 children living in poverty and addressing that has to be our number one priority.”