Council / SIC to meet with SRT and SCT following pool closure, chief executive says
SHETLAND Islands Council (SIC) is due to meet with the recreational and charitable trusts in the coming weeks following the closure of the Scalloway pool.
SIC chief executive Maggie Sandison said the meeting is planned for early May.
Shortly before the closure at the end of March local councillor Davie Sandison brought a motion to the council chamber on the SIC’s partnership with Shetland Recreational Trust (SRT), which operated the pool.
Speaking today (Wednesday), Sandison confirmed that a meeting is now scheduled with the council, the SRT and Shetland Charitable Trust, which funds the recreational trust.
The SIC is not involved in the running of the SRT, but it is described as the largest customer of its leisure centre facilities.
Sandison also said she aims to bring a report on the topic to a council meeting in June.
The motion, which was approved by councillors, instructed the chief executive to review current service agreements between SIC and SRT.
It also instructed her to report back onto options for a long-term plan to “maintain the operation of the SRT and the Scalloway Pool into the future”.
Maggie Sandison reiterated that the SRT, which is a charity, is a separate organisation to the council.
“I can ask them to engage in this process and see how much information they’re prepared to share with the council,” she said.
The chief executive added that one hope from the meeting is to “understand what they explored in the process of coming to the decision that they came to”.
The pool’s closure, announced in January, came as the SRT – which operates seven other leisure centres across Shetland – sought to become more financially sustainable.
A petition calling for the pool to stay open attracted nearly 5,000 signatures.
The SRT-run swimming lessons at the pool have now moved to the Clickimin Leisure Complex in Lerwick.
The organisation previously said it will retain ownership of the building for a longer period of time and has agreed to maintain the fabric and fittings of the building in the “best way possible” to allow for consideration of continued use.
It said this is to give the community “further opportunity to suggest alternatives and allow the possibility of reopening should a sustainable long-term solution be identified”.
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