News / Charitable trust told ‘seriousness’ of SRT’s financial outlook before Scalloway closure
Recreational trust said it received just eight per cent of asked 14 per cent pay uplift
BOTH Shetland Charitable Trust (SCT) and Shetland Islands Council (SIC) were “regularly and repeatedly briefed” about Shetland Recreational Trust’s (SRT) dire financial situation before the decision to close Scalloway pool was announced.
SRT chairman David Thomson said it received just eight per cent of an asked 14 per cent funding uplift from SCT in 2025, to see it through to 2030.
Both the charitable trust and the SIC were told “the seriousness of receiving less than the absolute minimum necessary”, Thomson said.
Despite the SRT’s “grave concerns”, Thomson said last week it became clear that “no such funding was forthcoming”.
He also revealed that the SRT was just four months from insolvency before taking urgent action to reduce staffing levels in 2023.
The trust has warned it again faces insolvency by the 2028/29 financial year, unless it takes further drastic measures like shutting the Scalloway pool.
Scalloway Community Council and other community groups have been fighting the SRT’s decision to close the pool in late March, with the SRT holding firm.
In an 18-page response to the community council, the SRT has said it cannot afford to delay or discuss Scalloway pool’s closure any longer – or it faces going to the wall.
The letter includes a wide-range of information about the SRT’s financial outlook, including:
- Around £950,000 could be saved by the closure of Scalloway
- Scalloway was the least used pool in Shetland in 2024/25, with just 13,393 customers
- Works had to be carried out on Scalloway pool in 2025 to prevent it closing due to health and safety concerns
The SRT said it could end up “with multiple closures with even less warning” unless it takes immediate action and closes Scalloway pool.
Its chairman was responding to a request from Scalloway Community Council, which had asked the SRT to urgently pause the decision to shut Scalloway in late March.
Thomson said that while they shared concerns about the impact the news would have on Scalloway and the wider community, SRT’s “stark and economic staffing realities” outweighed those concerns.
“If SRT delays the closure and new efforts are unsuccessful then our unsustainability will become insolvency,” he said.
“As unwelcome as it is, as difficult as it is for Scalloway and those nearby and affected, SRT needs to act now.”
The SRT said that Shetland Charitable Trust (SCT) and Shetland Islands Council (SIC) had been “regularly and repeatedly briefed” about the situation.
In 2024, the trust said it became clear it would need a 17 per cent uplift to its previous grant income to sustain all eight leisure centres at their existing customer levels.
Despite “grave concerns” it applied only for a 14 per cent uplift from key funders like SCT, to “demonstrate continued efficiencies and partnership”.
The award from SCT was confirmed at just an eight per cent uplift, which was £19.6 million for the multi-year term.
Thomson said at this point it “became clear that operating all eight facilities would no longer be sustainable”.
“In 2025 over multiple discussions, SRT explained to Shetland Islands Council and Shetland Charitable Trust the seriousness of receiving less than the absolute minimum necessary to continue without major change,” he said.
“It was confirmed that no additional funding would be available.
“Unfortunately, at current expenditure with current income, and even with ambitious customer projections, it’s no longer sustainable to run all of our facilities and we face the stark reality of closures.”
The SRT will be insolvent by the 2028/29 financial year without urgent change, Thomson added.
“The closure of Scalloway Pool is enough to bring SRT’s financial model back to balance, with enough coming in to cover what needs to go out,” he said.
“That balance should be able to continue into future funding cycles if Shetland Islands Council and Shetland Charitable Trust do not reduce support.”
Thomson said that there were two organisations with “greater financial capabilities” than the SRT, which were the SIC and charitable trust.
“Both organisations have been provided with briefings and information on SRT’s circumstances over an extended period of time,” he said.
He said the level of subsidy from SCT for the 2025/26 year was £3.69 million, which accounted for 55 per cent of SRT’s budget.
However he said this was “relatively low compared to previous”, adding the subsidy had been nearer 70 per cent in years past.
In explaining why Scalloway was picked for closure, Thomson pointed out that it was the pool least used by SRT customers in 2024/25.
The pool represents just 1.87 per cent of all SRT activity, with 13,393 customers passing through the doors between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.
In that same timeframe the Yell Leisure Centre was used by 14,739 people, with Sandwick used by 19,307 customers.
The closure of Scalloway pool is projected to save SRT £952,062 from now until 2030.
He also explained more about an estimated £1.2 million in refurbishments that the recreational trust says are needed at Scalloway in the near future.
Thomson said work costing around £60,000 was done in 2025 to ensure the people did not have to close due to health and safety reasons.
But he said the building still needed an estimated £244,000 in electrical work, £132,000 for high level windows, £110,000 in pipework and £110,000 in work to its main entrance.
Save Scalloway Pool, a group started last month, said it was left with “more questions than answers” after reading the SRT response.
The SRT has said that closing Scalloway is the “least-worst” option available, with customers able to use the Clickimin Leisure Centre as an alternative.
Thomson reiterated in his latest letter that SRT trustees felt consultation with the Scalloway community was not an option, as no alternatives to closure existed.
Its trustees have offered to engage on a potential community-led future for the building, with the trust adding it “would not simply sell the building to the highest bidder”, instead seeking to ensure the new owner “supports positive community use”.
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