DISTRICT NEWS:
WELSH residential outdoor education centres will share an initial £2m funding pot over the summer – but for some this has come too late.
Welsh Government announced a fund to provide eligible centres across Wales with support to cover essential operating costs during the period June to September 2021.
Further details on the fund, including when it will be open to applicants, will be released in May, after the Senedd election.
The sector has been hammered by the pandemic with many operators unable to open at all since March 2020.
This funding has been welcomed but five centres have already closed in the North Wales area alone and there is a warning more could follow before the money comes in.
A statement from Welsh Government said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has negatively affected residential outdoor education centres in Wales, as it has in other nations.
“Due to the ongoing pandemic and measures in place to reduce the transmission of the virus, outdoor residential centres are likely to continue to be affected.
“This not only impacts on the centres, their staff and the economy of the local communities in which they are based, but it also impacts on children and young people who benefit from these residential educational experiences.
“We have listened carefully to the concerns of the sector, and the particular challenges in relation to residential outdoor education experiences.
“Whilst many organisations in the sector have accessed Welsh Government support during the pandemic, there is a need to ensure support continues to be available when necessary.
“A fund will therefore be established to support the residential outdoor education sector in Wales.”
Ed Jones, director of Rhos-Y-Gwaliau OEC, Bala, said: “We welcome the fund but it may be too late for some and at this stage we don’t know who will be eligible.
“I hope they recognise that whoever owns the centre that they are bringing money in and creating jobs in Wales.
“This money is to cover fixed costs from June to September so not money we have all lost so far.
“We have lost five centres in this area and I wonder what difference this money could have made if announced earlier and whether some can now last until June.
“Even with this money it is likely we will still make losses – so that is two years of no profits and losing money.”