Those of you who attended the first public meeting to discuss the future of the Tourist Information Centre in Burnham on Sea held on 28 January last will remember that a Working Party was formed to look at the future of the Tourist Information Centre, and that it was agreed that a further meeting would be held on 19 April to inform you all of progress.
Since January, the Working Party has met on four occasions, the meeting being on Tuesday 13 April. At that meeting, members felt that it was not appropriate at this time to call a further public meeting, but agreed that as Chairman of the Working Party, I should write to inform you about progress to date.
First and foremost you will, I hope, be delighted to know that following the Town Council’s agreement to provide funding of £50,000 for the financial year 2010/11, and the provision of a further £28,000 from Sedgemoor District Council, the Tourist Information Centre will remain open until 31 March 2011 with only minor changes to the way in which it operates.
This means that there is now a “breathing space” in which to find alternative ways of funding and running a Tourist Information Centre in the town.
The remit of the Working Party therefore is to “secure funds for the long term future of a Tourist Information facility for Burnham on Sea, and to produce a feasibility plan, financial plan and management plan for such a facility”. This does not however rule out some closer scrutiny of current practices during 2001/11.
I can tell you that to date there have been expressions of interest from four interested organisations in being part of the running of the TIC, although commercial sensitivity means I am unable to say at this time who these organisations are. Discussions with these organisations are on going.
Separately the Working Party is gathering information on how other Tourist Information Centres in the southwest are run, and more importantly, how they are funded to see if any lessons can be learnt.
I will of course write to you again, or call a further public meeting, when I am in a position to give more details of progress. In the meantime, the next meeting of the Working Party is scheduled for Monday 24 May, and members of the working party are continuing with their visits to other Tourist Information Centres.
Yours sincerely
Cllr Neville Jones OBE
Chair, Tourist Information Centre Working Party Back to homepage
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