Future of Huddersfield Tourist Information Centre to be decided

Jul 7 2009 by Barry Gibson

Option 1: Keep the tourist office on Albion Street, costing £78,000 a year in staff and £14,000 in accommodation

Option 2: Close the tourist office, set up a visitor information service in the library and ticket sales in the town hall. Extra staff costs of £26,000 a year and £90,000 to upgrade the library reception

Option 3: Close the tourist office, move visitor information and ticket sales to the library. Extra staff costs of £26,000 a year and £90,000 to upgrade the library reception

Mr Solomons leads a campaign group against the tourist office closure, which includes representatives from Huddersfield Town Centre Partnership and the Mid-Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce.

The group met Clr Stanfield, council leader Clr Mehboob Khan and Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman on Friday to discuss the plan.

And Mr Solomons is optimistic that his lobbying will pay off.

He said: “I think the council realise they have made a mistake, but they aren’t prepared to back down. However, I’m still hopeful we can persuade the cabinet this is bad for the town.”

The tourist information centre on Albion Street had 77,756 visits last year, compared to 541,000 for the library.

Kirklees has consulted on the closure plan since it was announced in February.

Dave Stewart of Welcome to Yorkshire – formerly Yorkshire Tourist Board – approves of the plan, saying the long-term future of tourist information was based around the Internet.