Redundancies at Ayrshire golf operator

An Ayrshire charity that runs three golf courses has reportedly carried out a series of redundancies.

According to Largs & Millport Weekly News, KA:Leisure, which runs Ravenspark, Routenburn and Auchenharvie golf courses, as well as other leisure facilities in the county, has made eight managers redundant.

This, writes the paper, includes the manager of Routenburn Golf Course, ‘whom KA didn’t seem to realise was also the public facility’s greenkeeper’.

The author, Drew Cochrane, states that KA:Leisure, which was set up by North Ayrshire Council, is trying to make nearly half a million pounds in savings.

‘They [have] issue[d] an internal report to staff to say that to ensure the viability of the organisation, with a reduced financial budget, jobs had to go. They will operate in deficit, with taxpayers footing the bill, for the foreseeable future,’ he added.

According to the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald, one worker said: “I believe the staff redundancy costs totalled over £145,000. This included the five positions made redundant within operations and customer service.

“This has now resulted in KA:Leisure needing to advertise positions for their new structure that employees who were made redundant could have been matched into.

“The positions of golf course managers were also made redundant, with the CEO not realising that they actually covered greenkeeping duties – which now leaves Routenburn golf course with one greenkeeper and Ravenspark golf course with just two.”