Session 1: Scene Setting

On Thursday 21 May, around forty-five people gathered at Mareel in Lerwick, with another 11 joining online, for the first of seven Sessions that will shape the next Shetland Partnership Plan. Those round the tables included community partners - community councils, third sector organisations and community-led groups - alongside service partners including Shetland Islands Council, NHS Shetland, Police Scotland, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Shetland’s Trusts and others.  Altogether 40 organisations were represented.

Session 1 - Scene Setting - introduced the approach the Partnership is taking: not another consultation, but a structured conversation among the people and organisations who already know Shetland, building from the evidence we already have. The Session centred on the stories of seven fictional children, each based on real evidence about households in Shetland today, with their lives carried forward to 2043. It gave the room a shared starting point for the work to come.

The conversation that followed began to touch on the challenges facing Shetland, such as housing, family pressures, employers needing skilled workers, and the pace of change facing the islands. These themes, and others, will be picked up in turn across the six Sessions to follow - beginning with Session 2 on Inequalities on Thursday 25 June 2026.

Find out more about the seven children and the wider process.