THE tourism industry and Minehead Town Council should be made to foot the bill for providing a dedicated tourist information centre in the town.

Members of West Somerset Council's scrutiny committee said centres in Watchet and Porlock operated successfully with only nominal grants from the district authority and questioned why Minehead should be any different.

They also called for the centre to be moved away from the seafront, although they were warned the council could be financially penalised for pulling out of the centre and a covenant on the land prevented any retail use of what would then be a redundant building.

As reported in last week's Free Press, the purpose-built visitor information and interpretation centre could be closed just two years after being hailed as the hi-tech future for the district's tourism industry.

The council is looking at a number of options, including shutting the centre and moving services to the authority's customer contact office in Summerland Road to save money.

Scrutiny committee members were told the council could not afford the £40,000 annual cost of keeping the seafront facility open, especially when an annual £10,000 grant from Minehead Town Council came to end in March next year.

Committee member Cllr David Sanders said no significant changes could be made until the agreement with the town council expired and said talks were due to be held with town councillors next week.

Cllr Tony Knight said he firmly believed the town council should pay for the centre: "When I was involved with Watchet we got £600 or £700 a year from the district council.

"We're talking £40,000 a year here."

He was supported by Cllr Ian Melhuish who said: "It's in Minehead, Minehead benefits the most from it, but the town council isn't happy to put any money in it.

"We seem to have just got lumbered with it. If it was back in the town it would do better than it does now.

"It seems the best thing to do would be to close it down, move to Summerland Road and sell off the building to someone else."

Cllr Sandra Slade said the visitor centre had been far busier in its former office in Friday Street and said the seafront location had been wrong from the outset.

She said the visitor centre catered for the tourism industry across West Somerset and not just Minehead but doubted the current facility was providing value for money for the council or taxpayers.

Committee vice-chairman Cllr Doug Ross said he personally believed the tourism industry should provide the lion's share of the costs and he was also in favour of relocating the facility elsewhere in the town.

"It's location was a mistake and I would like to see it moving further back into the town centre," he said.

Cllr Stuart Dowding was adamant the district council should not be picking up the bill.

"A visitor centre is a very much needed facility, but this council shouldn't be funding it," he said.

"It is predominantly for Minehead so it should be Minehead Town Council and the tourism industry that should be funding it."

In a report to the committee, the district council's corporate director Bruce Lang said the council was already in talks with key groups in Minehead, including the chamber of trade, steam railway and town council, about the centre's future. 

He said: "Realistically, in the current economic and financial climate for local government, it is highly unlikely that the council will be in a position to be able to carry such costs."

Councillors were warned that to retain the centre under the council's control, cuts would have to be made to other services - unless organisations which benefited from the centre's services covered some of the costs.

But finance lead member Cllr Kate Kravis appeared to contradict the report when she told committee members there was "no axe to fall on the visitor information centre" as the council had not yet set its budget.

However, Graham Carne, the district council's finance chief, told the committee the costs of running the centre had not been included in the council's 2011/12 financial plan. 

"This will need to be built into future budgets and additional savings will need to be found to support any continuation of the visitor information and interpretation centre into 2011/12. 

"Alternatively, additional income could be sought from partners and other organisations that benefit from the centre's presence on the seafront," Mr Carne said. 

The location, opening times, parking arrangements and working conditions at the centre have long been a cause for concern. 

Staff said they felt isolated from their employers at the district council and were worried enquiries had dropped since the centre relocated from Friday Street to the seafront. 

At the time planning permission was given, council officers rebutted concerns from highways chiefs about poor parking in the area and said it would be up to customers to find their own parking spaces. 

There was also much internal wrangling between Minehead Town Council and the district authority over who would staff the centre and, ultimately, pay for it. 

The centre was eventually built on land acquired by the district council from developer Westbury Homes as a result of a condition tied to a planning permission for flats alongside the site. 

The authority secured £203,193 of European Regional Development Funding towards the cost of the hi-tech facility, which was opened later than planned in July 2008 by Exmoor-based television personality Johnny Kingdom.

Cllr Sanders said there was a risk the council could have to pay some money back if it closed the centre and said Butlins had several covenants on the land, which restricted the future use of the building.