WINTER opening hours are to be cut at the Minehead Visitor Information and Interpretation Centre in a bid to save almost £7,000.

The seafront facility, which is facing an uncertain future because of local government cutbacks, will close on Wednesdays and Thursdays from early December until the beginning of March.

West Somerset Council, which owns the centre, is having to weather increased costs from extending Sunday summer opening hours, higher staffing costs from employees switching to district council pay scales and conditions, and reduced income.

Minehead Town Council, which the district council is obliged to consult, gave its backing to the changes this week. The two authorities are due to meet next week to discuss the long-term future of the centre, which is currently housed in a new building opened just two years ago.

The district has said it cannot afford the £40,000 annual cost of keeping the facility open, particularly as an annual £10,000 grant from the town council is due to come to an end in March next year.

Cllr Simon Stokes told a town council meeting on Wednesday that everyone appreciated the financial difficulties facing the district council and the massive savings it had to make: "But it is important that we don't take any responsibility for that building or staff."

He said the centre was not Minehead's alone but a visitor facility for the whole of West Somerset.

However, with calls for the tourism industry to have more involvement, he said the town council should be prepared to work with any new organisation that might take it on.

Cllr Tony Berry said it should be remembered that it was the district council which had wanted the visitor centre to be housed in the new seafront building and questioned whether a European Union grant of more than £203,000 secured towards the cost of the facility would have to be repaid if it closed.

In a letter to the town council, district council economic regeneration and tourism manager Corinne Matthews said the authority fully recognised that the tourism economy was of extreme importance and that visitor information services were a high priority.

"We hope that the town council will recognise that we are still very committed to providing a comprehensive visitor information service and will recognise the requirements to reduce the opening hours for this winter to enable us to start our deliberations for the next financial year without a significant deficit that will be carried forward is instrumental to this process."

Cllr David Sanders, a town and district councillor, said the reduced opening hours had been suggested by the centre staff.

It will now open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10.30am to 3.30pm.