 Trustees still need to find backers despite the weekend visitor surge |
Staff at Middleton, the National Botanic Garden of Wales, returned to work on Tuesday knowing that three out of four of them would be made redundant in a few weeks time. Although the garden trustees have agreed a �353,000 rescue package to keep the garden open for the next 10 weeks, only a quarter of the present full-time staff will keep their jobs.
The plan is to run the garden at Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire, on a skeleton full-time staff of 15, supported by some part-time workers.
Trustees spent four hours in a crisis meeting on Monday, when they agreed to accept offers of help from the Welsh Assembly Government, Carmarthenshire Council, and the Millennium Commission.
The funding from these organisations will keep the garden open for the next two-and-a-half months.
However, all but 15 of the 70 permanent and 30 part-time staff will be made redundant as soon as their contracts expire, and part-time workers will also be affected.
Alan Heyward, chair of the trustees, has made it clear there is no long-term rescue package in sight yet. The board is still hoping the Welsh Assembly Government will reconsider its refusal to offer long-term aid.
Over the next few weeks all offers of help will be evaluated.
Carmarthenshire Council has agreed to consider match-funding the �150,000 the Welsh Assembly Government has offered, but the decision has to be ratified by the full council next week.
A further �53,000 will come from the Millennium Commission.
 The business employs around 100 members of staff |
Speaking to BBC Wales, Mr Heyward said he regretted the decision to lose jobs, but he said it was the only option. "I am absolutely sorry that the people who bear the economic brunt of this are going to be the staff," he said.
"We are not making all 100 staff redundant, but we are making a substantial number of the redundant.
"But the good news - if there can be good news - is that we will be able to pay their notice periods and redundancy packages."
Mr Heyward insisted the decision taken was a positive one.
"The trustees are doing this not because they are extending the garden's life by three months," he explained.
Looking for partners
"They are doing this because they feel optimistic that they will find a longer-term solution to the garden's funding."
If the trustees thought it was only a short-term solution, and that closure was still inevitable, they would have closed the garden immediately, he added.
Mr Heyward said that although the Welsh Assembly Government had "washed its hands" of the garden, it was still looking for partners on the garden's behalf.
"They are seriously putting their backs into keeping the garden going for the foreseeable future," he said.
Record crowds of 7,000 flocked to the garden at Llanarthne in Carmarthenshire over the weekend to take advantage of the free admission and to show their support.
 The garden was opened in May 2000 by Prince Charles |
Management threw open the doors as a 'thank you' gesture for all the public support it has had since news of its money problems emerged.
The three opposition parties in the Assembly have called on Culture Minister Alun Pugh not to cut off future funds to Middleton. Plaid Cymru's Rhodri Glyn Thomas took issue with the minister over news that money which has been made available would be a "final payment".
He called on the Welsh Assembly Government to take control over the garden and bring it under the umbrella of the National Museums and Galleries of Wales - just as it had done with Big Pit.
Alun Pugh claimed doing this would cost �20m and would mean that the garden would have to provide free admission.
The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats agreed that future funding should not be ruled out.
Nick Bourne, Conservative group leader in the assembly, pointed out that similar gardens in England and Scotland were heavily subsidised.
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I am absolutely sorry that the people who bear the economic brunt of this are going to be the staff 
