By Graham Huband

THE BUSINESS community suffered a major blow last night when it was announced that the historic Dundee and Tayside Chamber of Commerce and Industry is to close due to crippling debts.

A total of 43 employees— including chief executive Mervyn Rolfe—were advised of the situation at a meeting called by the board of directors at the chamber’s base in Dundee late yesterday afternoon.

The staff—who were informed of the board’s future plan to create a new slimline Tayside Chamber of Commerce—were not made redundant immediately and will be paid until the end of the month.

The chamber will continue to operate until the future of the organisation and its employees is decided at an extraordinary meeting of members next week.

The writing has been on the wall for the 150-year-old chamber following the failure of a wholly-owned subsidiary training company earlier this year.

The award-winning Instep Initiatives, which initially produced a turnover in excess of £3 million, went into liquidation in May with the loss of 13 jobs.

An attempt was made to save the jobs of around two-thirds of the redundant workforce by setting up a new HGV training company called Instep Commercial.

The new firm was established as a branch of Training Services Fife—a wholly owned subsidiary of the chamber—and took on much of the significant debt of Instep Initiatives.

The burden of debt, understood to equate to hundreds of thousands of pounds, proved too much for the fledgling company and its failure also signalled the end for the chamber.

Guarantees given regarding Instep Commercial mean that DTCCI can no longer trade legally. The group’s assets will be used as collateral against outstanding debts.

The assets include the historic Chamber Buildings opposite McManus Galleries, and property used by the training company in Fife.

DTCCI president Joe Lafferty, who was out of town on an “unshakeable business commitment” when the bombshell news was dropped to staff, said it had been impossible to turn round the chamber’s perilous trading position.

He said the chamber’s 600-plus members were being invited to an extraordinary general meeting next week where they would be asked to approve a plan to establish a new body with a skeleton staff of three.

Mr Lafferty said, “We very much regret having to take this step, but we are absolutely determined to ensure that DTCCI’s historic mission of being the voice of local business will continue in the new Tayside Chamber of Commerce.

“Ultimately we were left with no choice. We had already put our former training company, Instep Initiatives, into liquidation in May, enabling us to completely restructure the business.

“However the changing nature of the government-sponsored training market coupled with the chronic lack of cash and the debts that the Chamber group inherited from Instep have proven too much.

“But we were unanimous in not wanting to let the Chamber die. It’s too important for local business.

“We have drawn up a tightly-costed and fully worked-out business plan that we believe will enable the new Tayside Chamber of Commerce to continue to speak out for business, provide networking opportunities for members and recognise their efforts.

“The new Chamber will be a much slimmed-down entity, without the millstone of debt the Chamber group has had to negotiate in recent years.

“Our goal is to help members grow their businesses and become more profitable, and to work in partnership with other like- minded organisations and institutions for the prosperity and benefit of Tayside.

“We are in discussions with other key partner organisations and we already have commitments to help us navigate the transition.

“Significantly we have the commitment of the Scottish Chamber network to continue to provide services to our members until the new Chamber is up and running, and a commitment from a key local partner to support members in the run-up to the launch of the new Chamber.

“The city and the region need a strong Chamber. We believe the measures we are proposing will secure that.”

If approved, it is expected the new chamber will be set up by the end of September.