News

Update – April 2026

Key message: Progress made; new developments; more support needed.


Progress

  • Gym re-opened January 25
  • Pool re-opened May 25
  • School swimming lessons for some primary school pupils since Feb 26
  • Swimming lessons for children and adults being delivered – 560 children learning to swim
  • 3,213 users in Feb 2026, with 403 memberships
  • Health and wellbeing classes for all abilities and ages available
  • Fully-qualified staff team, currently 6 members
  • New gym and pool equipment

What’s planned

  • Redeveloping and extending the leisure centre building
  • New heating and air conditioning plant
  • More accessible building
  • Reduced energy usage
  • A facility that’s more comfortable to use
  • A more sustainable community asset

Support Required

  • Equitable funding from Highland Council compared to similar centres and Highlife Highland
  • Increased budget for school swimming lessons
  • Access to Scottish Government’s budget for swimming lessons
  • New directors
  • Feedback from the community

The difference that would make

  • Longer opening hours
  • Swimming lessons for all primary school pupils
  • More people able to use the Leisure Centre
  • More people taking up HLH memberships
  • Healthier and happier people

Please complete our survey here https://forms.gle/dn8gkEaWnz4w3z1HA

Foundations

Lochalsh Leisure Centre is an important facility for Lochalsh, Wester Ross and South Skye. The Centre provides a swimming pool, gym, health suite as well as swimming lessons and a range of exercise classes. It was established primarily to teach people to swim and that remains our core purpose. During its closure it was sorely missed by all during its closure. Following the launch of a crowdfunder there was huge community support shown which led to the reopening in January 2025.
Since then, staff have been recruited and trained so that the pool was able to re-open in May 2025 and since February this year, we have been able to provide swimming lessons, for schools, children and adults.

Local fundraising has enabled us to carry out maintenance and repairs costing over £40k, as well as purchasing new equipment for the pool and gym and lockers for the changing rooms.

However, we know that people want the pool and the gym to be open longer hours. We aren’t able to do this with our current income, and our staff team is smaller than before the fire due to funding constraints. The team have contributed their own time to enable us to have the professional qualifications needed for operating the Centre and delivering swimming lessons.

We have asked Highland Council for an uplift in funding for this year (26/27). This would be in line with Highlife Highland which has uplifts in the last three years to cover increased staffing and energy costs.

We also want to explain to you what support we need and why.

Funding

Core funding towards running costs
Since the pool opened, Highland Council has provided the Centre annually with funding towards its running costs. Its value has reduced in cash terms and monetary value as inflation, staff costs and energy prices increase. We are awaiting a response to our request for increased core funding for last year (2025/26).
Highland Council also funds Mallaig Pool and Leisure, also a community-owned and operated leisure facility, and Highlife Highland which operates leisure centres across Highland. Mallaig currently receives about 70% more funding than us each year from the Council and Highlife Highland has had extra funding for each of the last three years.

School swimming lessons
We recognise that Highland Council, like all organisations, is struggling with budgets. This has meant that the amount paid by the Council for school swimming lessons has reduced from what it previously paid and also that the swimming lessons have not been available for all primary pupils as previously. We would ask that the Council reviews this and for 2026/27 increases the budget so that all primary pupils receive swimming lessons through the schools.

Scottish Government fund for swimming lessons
Scottish Government announced a new £2million pound fund to provide free swimming lessons for all primary schools in 2026/27. We want to be able to access that fund.

Community Input

Developing the Centre – your input
We are at the very early stages of developing plans for an improved and probably extended building. We want to know from current users what works well for them and what could work better. We also want to hear from people who don’t use the Centre if there are things which we could do which would encourage you to use it. We might not be able to do everything that everyone suggests but we will give reasons for what we take forward and what we don’t. There will be more opportunities for involvement before the plans are finalised. Survey open until Monday 27 April – https://forms.gle/dn8gkEaWnz4w3z1HA

New Directors wanted
We are looking for new directors to join our board. If you have knowledge and experience in finance, making funding applications or business development please get in touch. The board meets monthly. If you are interested, please contact Shona MacLennan or Fiona Begg via manager@lochalshleisure.uk

Developing the Centre building
What we want to achieve and what won’t change.
We are taking the opportunity to consider the best way to develop the Centre so as to make it much easier to run and use, more comfortable for users, reduce heating costs and potentially extend the building to do these things.
We know that the pool will stay where it is and the size it is; it’s too complicated and expensive to change that. All other parts of the building can be changed.

The building itself
We know from various surveys that have been carried out that the building itself has many years of life in it. However, the plant that heats the water and building, the air conditioning system, and the windows and some doors need replaced.

Plant and equipment
One of the reasons for changing the operating plant is that it is coming to the end of its life. It is also very expensive to run so we want to have new plant that is much more energy efficient to reduce running costs; and make it easier to maintain.

Timescale
We think that between developing the plans, gaining funding and the building work itself, this is likely to take up to 5 years.