The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is planning to close shops and make redundancies at some of its nature reserves due to rising cost pressures, it has announced.
Last week, RSPB announced the closure of five retail facilities, one café and four visitor centres across seven sites.
The charity said its announcement forms part of a “comprehensive review” of its operations to ensure its longer-term sustainability.
Asked about potential redundancies, a spokesperson for the RSPB told Civil Society that “a number of staff will be affected by these proposals”.
“At this stage, we don’t know the exact number, as it’ll depend on multiple factors including the decisions that affected staff may choose to make,” they said.
“We’re working hard to reduce redundancies wherever possible and will be meeting all affected employees on an individual basis to explore other suitable roles within the RSPB or provide guidance and support with finding alternative employment.”
RSPB recently reported an income of £170m for the year to March 2024, up from £165m the year before, and total costs of £168m.
Its total staff costs, including remuneration, national insurance and pension contributions, were £84.0m in 2023-24 and it paid £218,000 in redundancy and termination payments.
10% cost rise over two years
RSPB announced that it will close shops at Loch Garten Nature Reserve; Newport Wetlands; Dungeness; Fairhaven Lake Visitor Centre; and Rainham Marshes.
The charity will close Fairhaven Lake Visitor Centre’s visitor centre and Rainham Marshes’ café, while exploring the future management of the visitor centre at the latter over the next 12 months.
It will also review options for the future of Flatford Wildlife Garden and Rye Meads during 2025, which include a potential change of management.
In its statement, the RSPB said “the economy hasn’t been in the best of shape in recent years”, with the cost-of-living crisis and inflationary pressure impacting its operations.
This includes “increasing cost pressures as suppliers put up prices and rising energy costs across our large estate”.
“Our income is growing but not fast enough to keep up with rising costs,” it said.
“To give a sense of this, it took £150m to deliver our work two years ago. Today, that same work will cost us £165m, a 10% cost rise.
“And so, to ensure our longer-term sustainability, we’ve completed a comprehensive review of our operations.
“We’ve looked across the organisation for improvements and efficiencies – from how we do our work to where we buy the things we need to do it.”
The charity said its nature reserves make up the largest proportion of its financial spend each year, and “to remain strong and viable”, it needs to make some changes.
“To be clear, it doesn’t mean selling off large areas of land to the highest bidder and it doesn’t mean that any of our flagship reserves will disappear. This work has meant really focusing on what each site’s unique contribution to our strategy and mission should be.”
Change to schools visiting scheme
RSPB said it would reduce its work at other sites to be able “to do more elsewhere”.
“At these sites, totalling less than 1% of our landholding, this will mean working in partnership with other charities, community groups or local councils to find sustainable futures for these places.
“In the coming years, some will focus primarily on maintenance, and others on developing their incredible conservation outcomes.
“Our long-term aim is to focus on what we do best and where we can do this most effectively, and we’re continuing to grow the area of land that we manage and conserve for nature year on year.”
The charity is also changing its schools visiting scheme on its nature reserves, as its latest review of its educational programmes shows that its charitable and strategic aims “are best delivered through an updated approach”.
It is currently developing “a new approach to education” that it believes will, over time, “reach even more children and allow them to connect with nature in a much deeper way”.
It said: “We’ll be able to share more details about what this means for the way we continue to welcome schools onto our reserves in 2025.”
Related articles
