Pool campaigners call for trusts and council to take part in meeting
THE SAVE Scalloway pool action group has called for a joint meeting with all interested parties – chaired by Shetland MSP Hannah Mary Goodlad – in a bid to “move beyond the current deadlock”.
The group is keen to see pool operator Shetland Recreational Trust (SRT), its funder Shetland Charitable Trust (SCT) and Shetland Islands Council (SIC) get around the table to discuss the future of the building.
In a letter to the organisations, the group said the “current impasse cannot be resolved by any single organisation working in isolation”.
The building closed at the end of March amid opposition from the community campaign group, with the SRT saying it needed to shut one of its eight facilities to remain financially sustainable.
Since then it appears nothing has changed – apart from the long grass getting a cut by campaigners last week.
In their letter, members of the action group said they were writing to the two trusts and the council as a “matter of urgency”.
“Following the facility’s recent closure in March and the profound public response, including the petitions signed by over 5,000 people and recent community demonstration, it is clear the pool remains a vital and valued asset for the health, education and wellbeing across the central mainland,” they wrote.
“While the financial constraints and operational hurdles facing the Shetland Recreational Trust (SRT), Shetland Charitable Trust (SCT) and Shetland Islands Council (SIC) are well documented, the current impasse cannot be resolved by any single organisation working in isolation.
“To move beyond the current deadlock, we are formally requesting that a joint, cross-organisational stakeholder meeting be convened with representation from the community.”
The group said that the proposal to have Goodlad chair the meeting is to “ensure a neutral and strategic approach”.
Goodlad has previously spoken out in support of the pool staying open.
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Writing on social media in August, the MSP said “open and collaborative discussion may hold the key to unlock the current impasse”.
“The role of an MSP is to listen and bring folks together and I will work to get this engagement,” she added.
In its letter, the group said it is keen to see a “collaborative review” of the situation – “re-evaluating the current structural funding limits and operational hurdles and what can be done differently”.
It also wants to see investigation of alternative models such as sponsorship, ring-fenced grant adjustments, crowdsourced funding and “other innovative joint working options”.
The group has also called for the creation of a “strategic roadmap”, which would entail agreeing on a collaborative long-term plan to safely and sustainably reopen the pool.
Its members added: “Bringing the combined resources and knowledge of the SRT, SCT, SIC, and our community with our MSP to the same table is the only viable path we see to securing a future for this very much valued community asset.”
Speaking on BBC Radio Shetland last month, SRT chair David Thomson said the charity did everything it could “not to have to close” Scalloway Pool, including an approach to the SCT for more funds.
Thomson said the SRT had agreed not to do anything rushed with the vacant building, with hopes that it could be kept for future community use.
The SRT chairman said the trust would eventually “reach a point where the intention will be to find a future for that building”.
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