Letters / Protect inclusive provision
Note: this letter was also sent to Shetland Recreational Trust and Shetland Charitable Trust, as well as Shetland Islands Council.
I am writing as a member of the community to express deep concern about the proposal to close the Scalloway Swimming Pool and the impact this would have on local people who rely on it as part of their everyday lives.
The Scalloway Pool is a well-used community facility that supports a wide range of people through swimming lessons, school swimming, ASN sessions, rehabilitation, and regular public access in an environment that works for those who use it.
The pool also provides important specialist and inclusive sessions that do not exist elsewhere. These include a women’s only swimming session, over 50s sessions, aqua fitness classes, private swimming lessons, club swimming, birthday parties and private hires. These sessions are essential for participation, confidence, and wellbeing, and for some users they are the only way they feel able to access swimming.
The Scalloway Pool hosts weekly private swimming lessons for both adults and children with individual needs who cannot cope with group classes or busy, noisy environments. For adults learning to swim, Scalloway is often the only place where they feel comfortable doing so. The pool’s quieter setting, closed sessions, and lack of public spectators allow people to learn without feeling self-conscious or exposed. This kind of provision cannot be replicated at Clickimin, where public viewing and background noise are unavoidable. It is unrealistic to assume that these activities can simply be transferred elsewhere.
Sandwick Pool is already operating at timetable capacity with existing commitments and does not have the flexibility to absorb additional sessions. Clickimin also does not have the capacity to accommodate the full range of provision currently delivered at Scalloway while maintaining its existing timetable.
Scalloway currently provides approximately 25 learn-to-swim classes, ASN block bookings, five school swimming lesson programmes, private lessons, women’s-only sessions, over-50s swimming, aqua fit, club use, birthday parties and private hires. Even where space might theoretically exist, the environment is not comparable. Many children thrive in the quieter, calmer setting that Scalloway provides, and this is particularly true for children with additional support needs and learning disabilities.
For others, the noise levels, scale, and prominent public viewing at Clickimin make participation extremely difficult or impossible. In these cases, services are not being relocated, they are being lost. This raises serious concerns about exclusion.
If these sessions cannot be accommodated elsewhere, then vulnerable groups including women who rely on single-gender provision, older adults, children and adults with additional needs, those learning to swim later in life, and people using swimming for rehabilitation will simply be unable to participate. This risks long-term damage to the Shetland Recreational Trust’s reputation as an inclusive organisation, which would be difficult to recover from.
Scalloway has also become an essential base for the canoe club. The club moved from Clickimin because the cost of using the facility there was unsustainable. At Scalloway, they have been able to run regular weekly sessions in a location that works for their members. This would not be possible at Clickimin, and for many members a 34-mile round trip to Sandwick is not realistic, even if timetable space were available.
The argument that Scalloway’s proximity to Lerwick makes closure reasonable does not reflect lived reality. Many residents live in affordable housing and do not have access to a car. Others cannot drive or have mobility issues that make travelling to Clickimin challenging or unmanageable, particularly given the distance from the nearest bus stop. Proximity on a map does not equate to accessibility in practice.
From a financial perspective, it is difficult to see how closing the pool will deliver a sustainable reduction in deficit. Staffing is one of the largest SRT cost pressures, and if staff are retained or redeployed elsewhere within the organisation, those costs do not disappear. In contrast, closure results in the immediate and permanent loss of income generated at Scalloway, including learn-to-swim programmes, private lessons, ASN block bookings, school swimming, clubs, classes, and regular public use.
These are predictable, repeat income streams that cannot simply be absorbed by other facilities already operating at or near capacity.
As a result, the net financial benefit of closure is likely to be far smaller than anticipated, and may in fact worsen the overall position by removing income while leaving core costs largely unchanged. This represents a short-term accounting response rather than a genuine solution to the underlying financial challenges facing the Shetland Recreational Trust. The Scalloway Pool supports health, inclusion, learning and community connection.
Once this provision is lost, it cannot easily be recreated elsewhere. I respectfully ask the Shetland Recreational Trust to reverse, or at least postpone, the proposed closure, to listen carefully to the voices of those who use and depend on the pool, and to fully explore alternatives that protect inclusive provision rather than removing it.
Thank you for taking the time to consider the real community impact of this proposal. I hope these concerns will be given genuine weight in the decision-making process.
Yours sincerely,
Bethany Nicolson
Trondra resident and Scalloway Swimming Pool user
