A UNION leader has claimed City of York Council is "putting the cart before the horse" by issuing redundancy notices to about 160 staff at York's Barbican Centre.

The Evening Press reported in later editions yesterday how employees had been sent letters by Charlie Croft, assistant director of education and lifelong learning, giving them formal notice of the termination of their contracts of employment from May 31.

Now a convenor from the union Unison, Dave Bonner, has spoke of staff's unhappiness at receiving the letters and their concerns over their futures.

He also expressed surprise that the notices had been issued before planning permission has been granted for the redevelopment of the Barbican, with the application not due to go before planners until next month. "It's putting the cart before the horse," he claimed.

But Mr Croft said the council had decided to cease managing the centre from May 31, and issuing the notices now meant that it had plenty of opportunity to find alternative employment for as many members of staff as possible.

Asked what would happen if the scheme was delayed because council planners were not minded to approve it, or because the Government decided to call a public inquiry, he said it would be open for the council to delay the redundancies and the centre to stay open after all.

He said that of the 160 sent letters, just over 50 were permanent staff, and efforts would be concentrated on re-deploying as many of these as possible. He was confident a majority could be found work elsewhere within the council. The remainder were mainly casual staff, such as stewards who worked during events in the auditorium.

Meanwhile, another letter has gone out to about 1,700 members of Total Leisure Fitness (TLF) who use both the gym and swimming pool at the Barbican.

The letter, by TLF manager Ann Sunderland, said it was looking into the possibility of relocating the gym until a new state-of-the-art one was completed nearby. It was also in discussions with private gyms in York and was trying to secure favourable rates for TLF members to continue using a gym elsewhere. All TLF members would also have the chance to cancel their membership, she added.

Mr Croft will speak about the Barbican proposals at a public meeting in the centre's upper foyer at 7.30pm tonight, organised by the campaign group Save Our Barbican.

Updated: 10:43 Tuesday, March 09, 2004