Community / SRT to close Scalloway swimming pool
The organisation is inviting interested parties to explore how the building can be ‘retained or repurposed’
SHETLAND Recreational Trust (SRT) has announced its intention to close the Scalloway swimming pool at the end of March.
The organisation said it is attempting to secure its wider long-term sustainability by consolidating leisure provision in Shetland.
It said its “operating costs and projected future expenses mean it is no longer financially sustainable to run all our current facilities”.
Services currently available at the Scalloway pool will be moved to other sites, including Clickimin Swimming Pool, after Tuesday 31 March 2026.
All staff currently employed at the Scalloway site will be supported and given the opportunity to relocate to other SRT sites.
But the SRT is inviting interested parties to participate in discussions to explore how the building can be retained or repurposed as a “valuable part of the Scalloway community’s future”.
Explaining the decision taken by trustees, SRT chief executive Robert Geddes said the organisation has been under financial pressure for many years.
Despite alterations to staffing levels and operating days and times in recent years, it has not proved possible to create a “sustainable business model”.
One move made in recent years was to close the Scalloway pool on Fridays. This was part of a wider suite of measures taken amid rising costs.
The SRT said that even if “massively increased funding became available”, the trust would still have “unsustainable staffing challenges”.
“In this longstanding context, the trust has assessed how best to continue delivering our excellent standard of leisure provision,” Geddes said.
“We have worked extremely hard over the past couple of years, making changes to our structure and operations to deliver the same level of service for the foreseeable future.
“Using all the data available to us to ensure future provision of facilities, trustees are clear this is the most appropriate way forward to achieve that goal.
“I’d like to assure customers of our Scalloway Pool that all services, including swimming lessons, will be transferred to other SRT sites with as little disruption as possible.”
The SRT said details of the transfer of activity provision will be publicised in due course and customers will be notified directly when possible.
The building was opened in 1993 and includes a four lane, 16.7m main pool, a shallow lagoon for toddlers, a whirlpool and a steam room.
It also offers lessons for children through the Swimming Learn to Swim programme, and hosts school swimming classes.
Trust chairman David Thomson said: “As trustees, we are legally required to ensure the viability of our organisation, and that involves taking difficult decisions, which this was.
“We know there are many people who will be disappointed and we are working to make sure everyone can access equally as good swimming opportunities at our other sites.
“Trustees would rather not to have had to take this decision, but it is a key part of developing a sustainable future and for the SRT to avoid significant negative consequences for the trust and Shetland.
“Shetland will continue to have the most incredible model for health, wellbeing and sport.
“This has not been simply a financial decision.
“Options were assessed to establish the practicalities, the social impacts, the financial effects and what’s best for SRT and Shetland as a whole.
“Trustees and staff looked at user data, geographical and transport information, education service implications, staff management implications and reprovision capacity before drawing our conclusions.
“The impact of closure on health was also assessed and all the data that was used to do so is publicly available.
“This is the right decision to allow SRT to continue providing an exceptionally high-quality leisure service.”
He added: “Clearly, there remains a question over the future of the building.
“We are open to discussion with community groups or interested parties, but it is clear that the pool cannot continue as a public swimming pool in the SRT network.”
In an FAQ section on its website, the SRT said that “similar to many other businesses and sectors within Shetland, SRT has excellent employees but it is a constant challenge to maintain the staffing levels necessary to provide services across eight geographical locations”.
The organisation said its staff are “being stretched to deliver everything already asked of them. A more sustainable business model will allow SRT to use our staff in better ways”.
All current classes and lessons will continue until blocks are finished.
The SRT said all members with current bookings will be contacted to have alternative future options explained.
The Scottish Swimming Learn to Swim programme will continue to be available at other SRT sites and “provision has been made to manage any capacity challenges and ensure that the current level of service is still offered moving forward”.
Regarding PE swimming classes, the SRT said it has “communicated with Shetland Islands Council as a partner to discuss options around the provision of swimming within Physical Education and have offered alternative facilities for delivery of swimming classes and groups”.
Regarding the way forward for the building, the FAQs added: “The future of the building is very much unknown and will involve real consultation and we welcome the participation of anyone interested.
“In our discussions with our customers the feedback has been consistently clear that they hugely value the services we provide. We want to protect that but cannot do that under the current model.”
The answer to the question “why Scalloway”, the trust points to the distance between the village and Lerwick.
“From door to door, it is only seven miles in distance to travel from Scalloway to Clickimin in Lerwick,” it said.
“We can see from data that many of the customers who use Scalloway are travelling from wider areas and can redirect with less impact than comparable for other sites.”
The SRT’s core funder Shetland Charitable Trust (SCT) said it had sought to help the organisation as it “transitions to a more sustainable operating model”.
“This has included funding for Covid recovery, access to a capital grants scheme for building improvements and increased help with running costs,” it said.
“SRT continues to provide an exceptionally high standard of sports and leisure services for Shetland with the £3.8 million grant it receives from SCT.
“SCT has to balance its responsibilities to SRT with those to other organisations that it funds. This includes addressing the increasing pressure experienced by the services which support some of the most vulnerable members of the community.”
Shetland MSP Beatrice Wishart said that while recognising the financial pressures on the SRT, “this decision will be a great blow and disappointment to many in and around Scalloway”.
“Just last week I was speaking in a Scottish Parliament debate about the importance and value of public swimming pools and of learning to swim at a young age,” she said.
“I fear the closure may have a negative impact on school swimming and I strongly advocate for swimming to be taught, an important life skill, as part of the curriculum.
“It is particularly disappointing as the Scottish Government’s budget announcement this week provided more funds for young people to have the opportunity to learn to swim.”.
Anyone with any questions about the closure of the Scalloway pool is asked to contact the SRT at mail@srt.org.uk.
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