News / Scalloway Pool will close on 31 March after funding request turned down
SCALLOWAY Pool will close on Tuesday 31 March after Shetland Charitable Trust refused a request from Shetland Recreational Trust for more funds.
The charitable trust said it had “reluctantly turned down” the ask for more funding, with chairman Robert Leask calling it an “incredibly difficult decision”.
Shetland Recreational Trust (SRT) confirmed in a statement that this would mean the closure of the pool would have to go ahead in less than two weeks time.
It said its staff and trustees had decided that a one year extension of the pool “would not resolve” the underlying financial difficulties, and would “risk further instability”.
“A delay in the decision does not allow the SRT to move to a new staffing structure and keeps pressure on a staffing model that isn’t viable to operate eight facilities,” the SRT said.
“It would also be problematic to place contracted employees into roles to cover a temporary service and then have no reprovision options as currently available.”
The SRT said its trustees had asked the charitable trust for more funding, but had been told that this was not available.
It said it had agreed to retain ownership of the building for a longer period of time.
And it added it had further agreed “to maintain the fabric and fittings of the building in the best way possible to allow for consideration of continued use.”
SRT chairman David Thomson said they had heard the pleas from the community for the pool to remain open, and that the trust had tried to do what was asked of them.
“Unfortunately, Shetland Recreational Trust and our facilities cannot realistically be operated on a year-to-year basis with no certainty beyond that,” he said.
“As an independent charity with serious legal obligations, we can only baseour service on long-term commitments.
“SRT trustees agreed we would do what we can and our decision to put the building into suspension rather than permanently shuttering anything still allows the community a chance to explore whether a sustainable future can be identified.”
Shetland Charitable Trust (SCT) chairman Robert Leask said its trustees had met three times to consider the funding request from the recreational trust.
He added they had “reluctantly” decided that it could damage SCT and put its guaranteed funding with other organisations at risk.
“Our financial advisers say we already spend to our maximum sustainable level ongrants, which is £10m a year,” Leask said.
“To go beyond that to boost SRT as a special case was felt by trustees to be unwise and unfair to the other charitable groups.
“Almost all these 30 organisations require more funding than we are able to give them.”
Leask called this an “incredibly difficult decision”, but said its trustees had been “unanimous” that they should not discard their financial plan.
“We recognise the deep connection many people have with the Scalloway Pool. We, as voluntary trustees, are sorry to have to disappoint.
“Our trustees are bound by a legal duty to act in the long-term best interests of our trust including the funds’ longevity.
“These interests would not be served by overspending and risking the future funding of the 30 local organisations which depend on us so they can deliver their services to thecommunity.”
The SCT said it was set to provide £3.8 million in core grant funding to SRT in the 2026/27 financial year.
It comes after widespread dismay from the community about the SRT’s decision to close the pool, which was announced in January.
A campaign to save the pool was quickly launched and has garnered close to 5,000 signatures, with its founders asking SRT to delay the closure for one year.
The petition was handed in to figures at both the SCT and SRT over the last month.
Calls have been made repeatedly for the SRT to ask SCT for extra funding to keep the pool open, with the SRT saying last month that closing Scalloway was the “least-worst option” available.
The recreational trust has said that it would have faced insolvency if it had not taken the decision to close the pool, which it says requires around £1.2m in refurbishments.
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