Taunton and Cartgate Somerset tourist centres could close

The tourism information centre at Cartgate could be closed to save the council £53,000 a year

Plans to close two tourism offices have been branded a "manifesto for the mutilation of joy" by the chairman of Visit Somerset.

The offices at the Cartgate site in Yeovil and Market House in Taunton could be shut.

Somerset Council declared a financial emergency in November due to an expected £87m budget gap for the next financial year.

Shutting the two sites could save £167,000 by April 2025.

Giles Adams, chairman of Visit Somerset, has lambasted the proposals, arguing they will lead to fewer people visiting the county and thereby impact on the local economy.

He said: "Somerset Council has a difficult job which has arisen from years of poor decisions at all political levels.

"However, the planned cuts to tourism and visitor services are ill-advised, particularly given the economic benefit this sector brings that is worth £1.3bn of the Somerset economy and provides more than 24,000 full-time equivalent jobs."

Taunton's tourist centre has been in the Market House since 2015

The site closures would save £114,000 from shutting the Taunton centre and £53,000 from closing the Cartgate branch.

Mr Adams continued: "For example, the loss of Cartgate Information Centre coincides with the dualling of the A303 at Sparkford - so we give the impression now that those travelling west are simply not required in Somerset and can be speedily conveyed onwards to Devon and Cornwall and spend their money there."

If the closure of the Cartgate site is implemented, the public toilets and the Cartgate Lodge Café will remain open.

A final decision will be made at a full council meeting in Bridgwater on 20 February at 10.00 GMT.