Fears over future of Leamington guide dog centre

Some Guide Dog centres across the country have closed and last October the national association - which has used the Warwick New Road site for the past 80 years - was given approval for demolition of the manor and the building of 35 new dwellings, subject to certain conditions on the provision of public open space.

More than 100 workers based at the manor have been informed that they should attend a meeting on July 28 - even if they are away on leave at the time.

One person closely involved with the charity told the Courier anonymously: “Everyone is worried about what this restructuring means - it could be that guide dog trainers will in future carry out more individual work in people’s own homes meaning there is less need for such a big base in Leamington.”

The charity’s communications manager, Nikki Malin, said she could not comment on the forthcoming meeting but stressed: “The Leamington dog training school continues to be part of our plans. Seeking planning permission (for the site) was a routine part of our estate management process.”

Ms Malin added: “Guide Dogs is developing a new way of working and a broader range of services so we can help more blind and partially-sighted people get out and about on their own terms.

“We also want to provide greater local service delivery for our customers and supporters.

“We are restructuring the organisation so we can do this but must emphasise we are looking to do more, not less. This means we want to retrain as many of our existing staff as is possible so we can build on what we have and keep their valuable knowledge and experience within Guide Dogs.”

She added: “All our staff will be given training and support to help them understand our new way of working, but we accept some staff may feel they do not want to change.”

Ms Malin said she expected that in many cases the same jobs or similar jobs would be available and people will simply move over to the different methods of working.

But she agreed there may be other cases where staff would need to compete for a job in the new structure. As plans were still being developed she would not speculate on how many people this may affect or whether the school simply needed less space.