Cornwall Heartlands staff plead for a month's more employment

Heartlands has lost its National Lottery funding

Staff at a Cornish attraction which announced its short-notice closure at the start of January have pleaded for another month's employment.

About 40 staff at Heartlands were given until 31 January to find new jobs.

The Heartlands Trust said that it could not cover its operating costs with rising bills and falling income.

A Cornwall Councillor for the area said concerns needed to raised about staff being able to pay their bills.

'Too harsh'

Conservative Philip Desmonde said he was "very distressed and very saddened" at the sudden closure of Heartlands, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Mr Desmonde said: "The decision to give just one month's notice to staff seems to me too harsh.

"I met with a number of them last week and the sudden loss of a job at the end of January is going to place them in considerable difficulty with mortgage payments, higher purchase obligations and general bills to pay during the winter."

Mr Desmonde said staff wanted an opportunity to find other employment as they were "distraught and desperately worried".

"There were tears. The common plea was for just one more month of employment to enable them to get new jobs.

"Would it be too unreasonable for the trustees to enable an additional month until the end of February for so many local people who so rightly deserve our support?".

The £35m visitor attraction at the Robinson's Shaft of the former South Crofty mine in Pool, lost its funding from the National Lottery in January.

The council's deputy leader, Conservative David Harris, said the council became aware of a loss in funding at the end of 2023 and provided an extra month's money to ensure staff did not lose their jobs before Christmas.

"The council has no obligation to put money in here whatsoever, but we did, because, in my view, it was wrong [not to]," he said.