COPE abandons plan for bottled water plant

The launch of Shetland bottled water has been abandoned after market pressures forced the company to fold.

Social enterprise company COPE Ltd originally began talks about the project, Shetland Spring Water Ltd, around four years ago.

However the company ran into difficulty after a marketing opportunity was missed due to the launch of Orcadian bottled water, Orkney Water, and was further hit by the council’s decision to stop providing water coolers in its offices, which would have been supplied by the Shetland company.

Cope Ltd director George McGhee said that it had been a difficult decision to make but that the board felt they had to be realistic.

Mr McGhee said: “Unfortunately the board has had to take the decision that we weren’t able to continue with the project.

“It’s a shame as it would have been a great venture but with changes in the market and our current position we agreed it wasn’t possible.

“It’s not been an easy decision to make. But the rest of Cope is doing very well and we’re always looking to the future and to working with as many young folk as we can.”