FIRSTSITE could make 30 of its gallery assistants redundant in a bid to save cash.

Chairman Noorzaman Rashid has proposed cutting the paid jobs and instead training up volunteers as part of a new business plan to get the troubled Colchester gallery back on track.

Mr Rashid, who joined Firstsite in July, said: “We’ve written a new business plan for the gallery to hopefully get it out of special measures.

“Part of that has been to look at how we can save money and raise money.

“One of the things that I have reviewed is the staffing structure, which is quite large by comparison to the size of the gallery.

“We’re looking to have volunteers who are trained to a very high standard from different parts of the community, as do many other galleries up and down the country.”

The gallery has a pool of about 30 assistants, who are all casual staff and not on permanent contracts.

They are contacted whenever there is an event or an exhibition, and can choose to work if they are available.

Mr Rashid said the majority of them are students or have other jobs, and fit the gallery work around their other commitments.

He said: “It is a low number of hours, and some people don’t actually work, they are just on the list.”

Human Resources staff met with all employees on Monday, and a consultation on the proposals will last for four weeks.

Mr Rashid has said he would like to cut salary spending by £100,000 a year, but stressed no final decisions have been made yet.

He said: “I would like to save a least £100,000 a year in salaries, so I’m looking at every possible way of reorganising the staffing for this size of gallery.”

Mr Rashid said the proposed changes would not affect the visitor experience.

He was not sure how many volunteers would be needed to fill the role.

Firstsite was placed into special measures earlier this year by the Arts Council, due to fears for the gallery’s viability.

It lost hundreds of thousands of pounds over the past two years and was criticised for not being inclusive.