Exhibition centre to cut staffing

The AECC said 11 staff had been offered redundancy

Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre plans to cut staffing, it has been announced.

The AECC said 11 members of its 74-strong workforce had been offered redundancy packages.

It was described as "part of a wider package of measures to safeguard its frontline services".

AECC acting managing director Brian Horsburgh said belts had to be tightened in the current financial climate.

He said: "While in an ideal world we would have been able to implement measures without a reduction in staff, that simply hasn't been possible in this case.

"Today's announcement is necessitated by the financial climate, both the current budget situation at Aberdeen City Council - from where we receive our funding - and well-documented wider economic considerations.

"We need to deliver the best possible service with our public money and ensure we secure the right level of future funding; which is why we have to reduce our overheads.

"Like so many other organisations, this means we have to tighten our belts, unfortunate though it is to see people leave the centre under these circumstances."

He added: "We are confident the centre will continue to inject over £60m annually into the north east economy. These difficult measures will ensure we're best placed to move forward and keep on generating that considerable financial input."