Three Dorset tourist information centres lose funding

TOURIST Information centres in Dorchester, Wareham and Sherborne will lose their Dorset Council funding in the coming weeks.

Talks are being held with town councils, and others, to see if the three centres can be kept going – but one councillor says now is the wrong time for the changes.

Weymouth councillor Ryan Hope says the county is likely to be a favourite ‘staycation’ location this year and will need to offer as much help and advice to visitors as it can.

He was the only councillor on the Dorset Council place and resource overview committee not to support the recommendation to end Dorset Council funding for the three sites.

“Is there any way we can continue to support these until they are transferred?” said Cllr Hope, “My concern is that with restrictions lifting we are set for staycations and Dorset will be a favourite destination for that.

“After the last twelve months are businesses in the area have had they need all the support that they can from Dorset Council to market themselves and Dorset as a whole…these three TICs don’t just answer questions for the three towns they are in, they support the whole of Dorset.”

The meeting heard that although the direct funding is now expected to end by the first week in April Dorset Council may be able to offer some, interim, funding to town councils, or other groups, which step in to run the services.

Most of the other tourist centres in the county are already run by town councils, or volunteer groups.

In Dorchester and Sherborne the town councils are interested in helping run tourism services although in Wareham the council has said it would not want to be directly involved, although would support others.

There is no guarantee that any of the three tourist centres to lose their funding will continue to operate in the same way, or from the same location.

There has been criticism that the Wareham and Dorchester TICs, both based in town libraries, have not been open on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

By not funding the three offices Dorset Council will save around £200,000 a year, depending on any agreement for support while the new services are set up.

A maximum of £60,000 has been set aside for any potential redundancies and talks are currently underway with staff at risk of losing their jobs.

A public consultation exercise, which had 990 responses, showed that 41per cent agreed the three centres could be run differently with the majority of those supporting town council’s stepping in or volunteers. Most of those who responded were users of the centres.