Re-creating Scalloway, Shetland’s former capital

In Norse times, the islands’ ‘lawting’ (parliament) was held just three miles to the north of here, on an islet in the Loch of Tingwall. The ting (the root is the same in Tynwald in the Isle of Man, or Dingwall in Scotland) was a meeting place at which laws would be interpreted and justice dispensed.

Scottish influence grew after the pawning of Shetland to the Scottish crown in 1469. The ting moved to Scalloway in the 1570s and, by 1600, Earl Patrick Stewart, Earl of Orkney and Lord of Zetland, had constructed Scalloway Castle. Regarded as an extravagant tyrant, he upset so many people in and beyond Shetland that, charged with treason, he was executed in 1615.

By that time, though, Scalloway’s days as capital were numbered. Six miles to the east, on Shetland’s North Sea coast, the summer presence of the Dutch fishing fleet had stimulated a new settlement and Lerwick grew rapidly, taking over Scalloway’s role as capital in 1708. By 1797, a local minister observed that Scalloway had “fallen into much decay”.

But Scalloway survived, playing a continuing role in Shetland’s fishing industry and serving the needs of the surrounding area, including the nearby islands.

Another chapter opened during the Second World War, when it was the main operational base for the so-called Shetland Bus, initially a fleet of small Norwegian fishing vessels which plied the North Sea in winter in support of the Norwegian resistance. The very moving story is told in the superb Scalloway Museum and significant sites associated with that heroic enterprise can be seen around the village.

The links with Norway continue to be marked and celebrated.

By the 1980s, however, there was a strong sense that more needed to be done to stimulate development and activity. The late Major Bill Anderson, then the local councillor, was tireless in his efforts to defend and promote the interests of the village.

With his support, the Scalloway Waterfront Trust was established in 1992. Over more than a decade, working closely with the Council’s Planning Department, it undertook or encouraged a number of projects, including a public art trail, the provision of a residential artist’s studio and other improvements. These included flood prevention measures on Main Street that incorporated an abstract stone sculpture, Head to Wind, shown above.

What of Scalloway today? The work done in the 1990s and early 2000s helped raise confidence and foster ambition and it’s fair to say that the village is thriving.

One sign of that is the amount of new housing development that’s taken place over the past two decades, much of it along the eastern shore of East Voe. Further substantial housing development, shown above, is also now under way in the Upper Scalloway area and the population is approaching 1,500.

The economy is doing well, too. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a major expansion of the port facilities, with new quays and space for more businesses. An older fish market has recently been replaced and the port also sees some oil-related traffic from the fields west of Shetland.

Another substantial investment resulted in the creation of a new fisheries college, which is now the Scalloway campus of the University of the Highlands and Islands. It’s a centre for research on finfish and shellfish, marine spatial planning and policy, and aquaculture.

The village also has a primary school, a health centre and an indoor swimming pool.

There are several shops and professional offices on Main Street and planning permission has recently been granted – after much local debate – for a small supermarket at the head of the East Voe.

The Cornerstone Café is popular and a major refurbishment has seen the former Kiln Bar transformed into an attractive restaurant.

Tourism in Shetland has been expanding and there are several B&Bs or self-catering places in and around the village. The Scalloway Hotel, which has been extensively renovated and improved, is currently for sale.

There are other assets. Scalloway enjoys very good broadband speeds and there is excellent mobile phone reception from a mast just west of the village that’s used by EE, O2, Three and Vodafone.

Transmitters on that mast also radiate the standard Freeview television and BBC DAB radio services.

All of that leaves the village in a much stronger position than it was forty years ago. What’s more, the momentum has been maintained and the next stages in the community’s future have recently been mapped out in the Scalloway Place Plan.

Place Plans are a new type of plan, stemming from the Scottish Government’s promotion of ‘place-making’, which, put simply, involves using planning tools to create better, more attractive places that work well for their communities and the environment.

The first step in creating the plan was taken in 2017; it took the form of a consultation with the community using the Scottish Government’s ‘place standard’ approach. Through that work, the community was able to identify the main issues for the village, which in this case included work and the local economy; traffic and parking; facilities and amenities; and housing and the community.

That information was used to make an application for funding to the Scottish Government’s ‘Making Places Initiative’. It was successful and, in 2018, a working group was established to develop a vision for the future of Scalloway. The group included all members of the Scalloway Community Council, other local representatives and staff from the Council’s Planning Service and Community Planning and Development Service.

By March 2018, consultants had been appointed to help carry out further consultation and draft the vision and action plan. Engagement events were held in May, June and November 2018 and, in May 2019, the vision and plan were published. You can find the Place Plan online here.

At the November event, villagers had been invited to vote on priorities and the top three were

• demolition of the dilapidated former youth centre (the large grey building in the centre of the photograph above), which had been derelict for many years
• expansion of parking provision at the Burn Beach, which is convenient for the shops on Main Street
• better walkways on the waterfront

All of this effort is summed up in Recreate Scalloway, the umbrella which has brought the community together, encouraging discussion and finding ways in which the community can work to improve the area, with help from outwith the village when required.

Many other ideas were put forward and incorporated into the plan, ranging from additional housing sites to a footbridge across the East Voe. In the centre of the village, several suggestions are to be taken forward, namely:

• reconfiguring Main Street to reduce congestion
• reconfiguring the Scalloway Youth and Community Centre parking arrangements to create a public realm
• exploring options for boats moorings in the village centre.
• improving paths and wayfinding across Scalloway
• improvements to Fraser Park

In all of this, wider aims will include sustainable development; conservation of built environment and culture; the promotion of sensitive new development; better opportunities for walking, cycling and public transport; reduced carbon emissions; and protection from coastal flooding, which climate change will exacerbate.

John Hunter, who chairs the Scalloway Community Council, is optimistic about the future. He says that, through the Recreate Scalloway project “all the burning issues have been brought to the fore.”

He feels that there’s “a lot of enthusiasm for improving the village and we have a team that’s able to go ahead and get things done…the Scalloway Community Development Company has picked up the baton.”

It will obviously take time to realise all of the community’s aspirations, but there’s already been major progress. The top priority, demolition of the old youth centre, has been completed, opening up that section of the waterfront and removing what was universally regarded as an eyesore. Interpretive panels explaining the history of the village have been installed at several points of interest.

Work on one of the largest projects, the creation of a new and much needed caravan and camping site in a beautiful location just north of the village, is well under way. Andrew Blackadder, another member of the community council and development company, expects that it will open around the end of May 2022.

Andrew feels that the work done so far has already made "a real difference" and demonstrate a joined-up approach. However, he sees lots of scope for further work, for example in creating more space for industry.

Other work is in hand. Historic Environment Scotland, which manages Scalloway Castle, is undertaking a programme of inspection and repair, to ensure that the old building can withstand the challenges presented by Shetland’s weather, especially in the face of climate change.

Scalloway is clearly taking its future into its own hands. The plan is in place and it’s being implemented, so that residents and visitors can enjoy an even better environment in years to come.