10:51pm Monday 6th July 2009
By Lizzie Anderson
“APPALLING” and “totally unacceptable” is how councillors have described the lack of consultation surrounding reduced opening hours at Kendal Tourist Information Centre.
Coun Austen Robinson said South Lakeland District Council had breached the Parish Charter by failing to consult with Kendal Town Council before it decided to close the facility on Monday and Tuesday mornings.
“It is totally unacceptable of SLDC not to have consulted us,” he told fellow councillors at a meeting in the town hall tonight.
Similarly, Coun Chris Mayho said: “Kendal TIC is a fundamental part of this town. It has been for years and for a decision to be made without any involvement of this chamber I find appalling.”
The decision was made to enable SLDC to meet budget targets, but Coun Robinson said if KTC had been told it may have been able to subsidise the TIC until alternative funding could be found.
“We are representing the people of Kendal and I was quite thrown when somebody stopped me in the street and asked me about it and all I could say was I am sorry but I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said. “The people of Kendal deserve us to express ourselves strongly on this matter.”
Councillors agreed to write to SLDC to express their dismay and seek an explanation.
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