Cafe jobs are lost at city sports facilities
Fifteen jobs have gone after Live Active Leisure confirmed it was closing its catering units at three facilities in Perth.
The news comes as it emerged the majority of Live Active staff are currently on furlough.
Councillors were told Live Active’s live catering outlets at the Dewars Centre, Bell’s Sports Centre and Perth Leisure Pool cannot resume in their current format - regardless of whether Perth and Kinross leaves level three COVID restrictions or not.
The revelation was made at a Perth and Kinross Council committee meeting this week.
Fiona Cameron, deputy chief executive of Live Active Leisure, presented an update on how Live Active was managing the pandemic to Perth and Kinross Council’s scrutiny committee on Wednesday (December 9).
Responding to a question from Independent Kinross-shire councillor Michael Barnacle, Ms Cameron said: “One of the challenges we have with the live catering is the ageing infrastructure of the buildings that we have those catering outlets in.
“They are not the most efficient and they would require huge investment to make them an efficient operation.
“At the moment the only way we would be able to reintroduce live catering into the facilities would be through future investment into the actual facilities.”
While Live Active has had support from PKC, the organisation has had to dip into its reserves and benefited from the UK government’s job retention scheme.
Key outgoings for Live Active are property costs primarily for Dewars, Bell’s and Perth Leisure Pool, as well as staff wages.
Head of contracts and compliance Andrew Brown said: “The large percentage of our staff either remain entirely on furlough or have returned on a flexible furlough basis where they are working part-time. And the extension of this scheme through to March 2021 is welcome.
“At this time the company hasn’t benefited from any industry-specific support funding.”
He said their buildings were “ageing” and required “further capital stock investment to ensure venues operate as efficiently and as effectively as possible” with the PH20 project - for a new pool and ice rink - playing an “integral part.”
He told the committee Live Active took the opportunity to undertake maintenance of their pool plants at Loch Leven and Strathearn.
They did this during lockdown when restrictions allowed and the facilities were still closed to the public.
Mr Brown said the works came at a “significant cost” but would largely be unnoticed by customers.
The closure of Perth Leisure Pool until September - due to flood damage in August - brings “significant issues” for Live Active with no income being generated from its busiest venue.
Options for temporary pool provision have been investigated and ruled out.
Mr Brown said: “The most notable challenge of being in level three is that after only three weeks of reopening - and a significant amount of work going into getting the venue open - Dewars has had to close.
“Curling and indoor bowling aren’t permitted in level three and the venue was also being used to host many of our wellbeing classes.”
He said Live Active still needs to maintain the bulk of the operating costs for the rink to maintain the ice so it can open as soon as the region goes into level two.
Scrutiny convener, SNP councillor Sheila McCole, said the news of the current situation at Live Active was “sobering”.