liveArgyll statement regarding the phased re-opening of facilities and services 10.07.20

Like many organisations and businesses across the country we welcomed the announcement made on July 9^th by the First Minister of the further easing of restrictions.  Unfortunately the majority of our services are still not permitted to re-open at this stage. This update confirms our current position and explains the carefully planned phased approach we are taking to the re-opening of our facilities and services over the coming weeks and months ahead.

As Argyll and Bute’s largest leisure and libraries charity, we’re at the heart of our communities delivering some of the most valued services. We know that demand will be high for the re-opening of our facilities and services and we are eager to get back to doing what we do best and serving our customers and visitors alike.

However this is a highly complex planning exercise given reduced capacity of our facilities due to physical distancing restrictions, enhanced cleaning regimes, staff welfare and training considerations and detailed national guidance from multiple sectors that must be followed. As a result, the way we operate our venues will be very different from before.  The health and well-being of our customers and staff remains our most pressing priority and we all have a responsibility to do what we can to continue to suppress the spread of the virus and so we will only re-open when we it’s safe and viable to do so.

Although we remain closed to the public we continue to support our partners to enable our facilities to be used for mobile testing sites, community food distribution centres, education hubs and storage areas for hospital equipment.  A large number of our workforce have and continue to volunteer in their communities supporting the emergency response.

The table below highlights the current status of our re-opening plan by service area which is very much subject to change and is directly informed by Government guidance.

We look forward to welcoming everyone back as soon as we can and we appreciate all the support we have received as we work hard to re-open our doors once again.