Job losses at Countryside Alliance
11 October 2001
Job losses at Countryside Alliance
By Adrienne Francis
THE Countryside Alliance has announced nine job losses as part of a cost-cutting restructuring plan aimed at streamlining the organisation.
Countryside Alliance chief executive Richard Burge said the changes would save up to 500,000 a year and ensure the organisation keeps within budget.
Overall, 26 jobs will go, but 17 posts will be created. A political campaign operation in Cumbria – hit hard by foot-and-mouth – will be axed.
“Events like this are never happy,” said Mr Burge.
But he added: “We must not rely so heavily on donated income, particularly in the post foot-and-mouth environment.
“We are changing the way we are approaching politics. As the UK becomes more political regionally, so too will our lobbying.”
Instead of a big network of regional press officers, the new system will see communications experts introduced to get the alliances message across.
Mr Burge said: “We will do our level best to get the nine people who have been made redundant into new jobs within the alliance.”
The alliance hopes the changes will focus efforts on securing the future of country sports and all forms of hunting across the country.
Brian Thistlethwaite, the alliances north-east campaign manager based in Cumbria, acknowledged that the organisations work would be scaled down.
But the new system would be more effective, he predicted.
Full details of all the changes are expected to be released early next month.
Earlier this year, the alliance was forced to cancel its second countryside march through London because of the foot-and-mouth epidemic.