Trust looks to long-term future with consolidation of leisure provision

Services currently available at the Scalloway Pool will be moved to other sites, including Clickimin Swimming Pool, after Tuesday 31st March 2026.

All staff currently employed at the Scalloway site will be supported and given the opportunity to relocate to other SRT sites.

Explaining the decision taken by trustees, SRT Chief Executive Robert Geddes said the organisation has been under financial pressure for many years.

Despite alterations to staffing levels and operating days and times in recent years, it has not proved possible to create a sustainable business model.

“In this longstanding context, the Trust has assessed how best to continue delivering our excellent standard of leisure provision,” he said.

“We have worked extremely hard over the past couple of years, making changes to our structure and operations to deliver the same level of service for the foreseeable future.

“Using all the data available to us to ensure future provision of facilities, trustees are clear this is the most appropriate way forward to achieve that goal.

“I’d like to assure customers of our Scalloway Pool that all services, including swimming lessons, will be transferred to other SRT sites with as little disruption as possible.”

Full details of the transfer of activity provision will be publicised by the Trust in due course and customers will be notified directly when possible.

Although it cannot continue as a public swimming pool within SRT’s network, the Trust is inviting interested parties to participate in discussions to explore how the building can be retained or repurposed as a valuable part of the Scalloway community’s future.

Trust chairman David Thomson said: “As trustees, we are legally required to ensure the viability of our organisation, and that involves taking difficult decisions, which this was.

“We know there are many people who will be disappointed and we are working to make sure everyone can access equally as good swimming opportunities at our other sites.

“Trustees would rather not have had to take this decision, but it is a key part of developing a sustainable future and for the SRT to avoid significant negative consequences for the Trust and Shetland. Shetland will continue to have the most incredible model for health, wellbeing and sport.

“This has not been simply a financial decision. Options were assessed to establish the practicalities, the social impacts, the financial effects and what’s best for SRT and Shetland as a whole.

“Trustees and staff looked at user data, geographical and transport information, education service implications, staff management implications and reprovision capacity before drawing our conclusions. The impact of closure on health was also assessed and all the data that was used to do so is publicly available. This is the right decision to allow SRT to continue providing an exceptionally high-quality leisure service.”

He added: “Clearly, there remains a question over the future of the building. We are open to discussion with community groups or interested parties, but it is clear that the pool cannot continue as a public swimming pool in the SRT network.”

FAQs

What is happening?
Scalloway Pool will cease operations at close of business on Tuesday 31st March 2026. No timetable or bookings will be offered for lessons, classes or public swimming in this pool beyond that date, but alternative locations for all current activities will be offered.

Existing blocks of lessons and classes will continue until complete, subject as always to the availability of staff. Customers who attend Scalloway Pool will be communicated with over the next few weeks to identify how they can attend the same activity at the nearest alternative centre.

Why are you taking this action in relation to Scalloway Pool?
We know this is a difficult and regrettable decision. SRT must make sure we can continue delivering sport and leisure services across Shetland for the long term. The charity's operating costs and projected future expenses mean it is no longer financially sustainable to run all our current facilities. Our MORE4life membership scheme has nearly 4,500 participants across Shetland and our Access2Leisure scheme supports more than 1,100 people who might struggle otherwise to come through the doors. By reducing the number of buildings we operate we aim to protect the wider network of services for the whole community.

Similar to many other businesses and sectors within Shetland, SRT has excellent employees but it is a constant challenge to maintain the staffing levels necessary to provide services across eight geographical locations. Our staff are being stretched to deliver everything already asked of them. A more sustainable business model will allow SRT to use our staff in better ways.

Where will people who want to use the pool swim instead?
Swimmers can access public swimming at our other SRT sites and information including opening times is available here: https://www.srt.org.uk/centres

Does this affect blocks of swimming lessons that have started or pool classes that have already been booked?
No. All current classes and lessons will continue until blocks are finished.

All members with current bookings will be contacted to have alternative future options explained. The Scottish Swimming Learn to Swim programme will continue to be available at other SRT sites and provision has been made to manage any capacity challenges and ensure that the current level of service is still offered moving forward.

The future of the building is very much unknown and will involve real consultation and we welcome the participation of anyone interested.

In our discussions with our customers the feedback has been consistently clear that they hugely value the services we provide. We want to protect that but cannot do that under the current model.

I use Scalloway pool because it is near me. How am I going to get to other pools?
We understand that people might worry about reaching alternative sites. Part of the information that we will be providing to members and users of the pool will include details of public transport options. Access times and activity scheduling are being reviewed to support relocated users and this will be adjusted again later once user experiences can be included.

Part of our transition planning will consider how SRT can support children, elderly users and those who may need extra support to access our other facilities and we are willing to hear from anyone who is concerned for how they can continue to swim.

Why Scalloway?
Trustees do not want to take this action, but realise that significant change is necessary to protect our charity. There have been years of effort by staff to preserve a viable business model and it is only since it has become clear that sufficient further savings cannot be made through efficiencies or further redundancies without destroying the complete service provision across Shetland that this action has been considered.

Trustees and staff have considered all options looking at user data, geographical and transport information, education service implications, staff management implications and reprovision capacity. The impact of closure on health was also assessed and all the data that was used to do so is publicly available. Possibilities were assessed to establish the practicalities, the social impacts, the financial effects and what is best for SRT and Shetland as a whole. The Trust made the decision based on social and health impact assessments and not purely financial impact.

As unwelcome as it may be, this action ensures a sustainable business model for SRT and will have the least community impact due to the proximity to the nearby available sites, which have capacity to absorb the customer numbers. From door to door, it is only seven miles in distance to travel from Scalloway to Clickimin in Lerwick. We can see from data that many of the customers who use Scalloway are travelling from wider areas and can redirect with less impact than comparable for other sites.

Why can’t SRT find an alternative solution?
We can provide the amenities delivered in Scalloway in other locations without cutting the overall level of service provided. Every class, lesson or activity currently happening in Scalloway Pool will be offered in another SRT facility. With, for example, further reductions of opening days across all centres, SRT would not be able to reprovision affected services elsewhere and the level of access to leisure and fitness facilities across Shetland would drop.

Before this action was considered, trustees explored every other way to find savings and efficiencies. Having considered the options trustees concluded that alternative options would have a more damaging effect on health and wellbeing in Shetland.

What about the PE provision for the school?
SRT has communicated with Shetland Islands Council as a partner to discuss options around the provision of swimming within Physical Education and have offered alternative facilities for delivery of swimming classes and groups.

What’s happening to the staff?
Employees currently working at the Scalloway pool have been informed of the Trustees decision to close the facility. Meetings are set up with the staff in the coming weeks to discuss their options. Everyone is being offered alternative opportunities within the organisation and support to manage the changes.

What’s going to happen to the building?
We don’t know yet and are happy to discuss ideas. Unfortunately, continuing as a public swimming pool within SRT’s network is not an option but there may be new uses or owners that can be found. In order to encourage some type of future for the building, SRT will begin discussions in the future with partners and community groups to collect views and opinions of how the building can be retained or repurposed as a valuable part of the Scalloway community’s future.

What is SRT’s status?
SRT is funded mainly by charitable grants and membership subscriptions. Our organisation has been facing up to the challenges of our ageing estate, our increasing costs and our limited budgets for many years. The pandemic, a post-pandemic period where we could hardly let anyone in, and recent cost-of-living and energy crises really challenged us and we have had to take critical action over the last couple of years to protect the charity. This meant changing how we do many things, reducing our management structure (involving voluntary and compulsory redundancies) and by reducing opening hours at all sites too, but it has only been with the generous support of our main funder, the Shetland Charitable Trust, that SRT has been able to continue operating. Under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Act 2023, trustees are legally required to act in their charity’s best interests and to ensure financial sustainability. Trustees have a legal obligation to make difficult decisions to serve the best interests of the charity. By taking action when necessary, trustees of SRT have protected the opportunities for health and wellbeing that SRT provides. Although the charity’s finances are now stable, the situation is fragile.

Can SRT not just ask for more money?
In 2025 SRT received a multi-year, multi-million-pound award under the Shetland Charitable Trust’s Large Grant Scheme for a funding cycle that ends in 2030 together with access to a Capital Grant Scheme to support ongoing maintenance. The grant award represents an increase on recent funding levels and SRT is grateful to Shetland Charitable Trust for their generous support, without which SRT would not exist.

The level of funding granted has been reviewed as part of ensuring that SRT has a sustainable business model and the decision has been made that a reduction in facilities is required to ensure the long-term provision of the service for future generations.

We continue to work with our most important partner, Shetland Charitable Trust, to help them achieve our shared ambitions to improve the quality of life for people in Shetland.

Due to the unusual history and legal status of SRT, which is an independent charity that provides public leisure and recreational services that are normally provided by the local authority in other regions, SRT does not qualify for many local or national funding opportunities although we have applied for, and received, support for small amounts of new equipment by working together with local sports clubs.

Even if massively increased funding became available SRT would continue to have unsustainable staffing challenges that are improved by being able to focus our resources across fewer sites.

Our modelling of future scenarios identified that the reduction of assets will still allow the continued delivery of health, wellbeing and sport in Shetland at an exceptionally high level.

Who do I speak to if I have any questions?
This announcement may be stressful for some but we hope everyone will be patient with us while SRT communicates with customers about the options for reprovision of swimming from Scalloway Pool to other sites. Not all information is available yet and some details may only become finalised after we speak to affected people.

Please contact mail@srt.org.uk if you have any questions about the closure of Scalloway Pool.