NATIONAL park bosses in Northumberland were last night accused of ‘retreating behind Hadrian’s Wall like the Romans’ over proposals to axe two cherished visitor centres.
Northumberland National Park Authority faced criticism from people at Rothbury and Ingram, communities that look set to lose tourist information centres run by the organisation because of budget cuts.
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has chopped around a third of the park’s income, which means the authority losing £1m each year to 2014-15.
That is in addition to a 4.5% cut imposed earlier in this financial year.
The Rothbury and Ingram centres, both past winners of gold awards in the green tourism business scheme for excellence of customer service, are proposed to close although the authority’s centre at Once Brewed, on Hadrian’s Wall is set to be retained.
And last night, Northumberland county councillor for Rothbury, Steven Bridgett, said: “The national park are doing what the Romans did and retreating behind Hadrian’s Wall.
“It now falls to the business sector and the community sector within Rothbury to plug the gap up of a tourist information centre and a visitor centre within the village which we need.”
The councillor has contacted authority chief executive Tony Gates asking for a meeting to discuss the future of the visitor centre.
He is also keen to find out whether the park plans to hold on to Church House, the building in which the centre is located and where a number of authority rangers and farming consultants are based.
Ingram resident Sarah Wilson last night spoke of her regret at the threat to its centre, which was reopened by The Duke of Northumberland following refurbishment in 2004.
She said: “It is very sad, I just think it is another severance of grass roots links with the community. It is a valuable place for visitors to the valley and where people can go to learn about the valley.”
Mrs Wilson questioned what will happen to a range of archaeological finds from the Ingram area which have been on display at its visitor centre in recent years.
Last night, Adrian Hinchcliffe, the authority’s deputy chairman, said the park is looking at only retaining the centre at Once Brewed as Hadrian’s Wall has the most tourist facilities.
He said: “Hadrian’s Wall is a world heritage site and is the most visited place within the national park and we use it as well as giving information about Hadrian’s Wall area, we also give information about the entire Northumberland National Park.”
Mr Hinchcliffe stressed the authority is open to suggestions from the communities as to how tourist information centres can be maintained in Rothbury and Ingram. He said the park could work with businesses to set up ‘information points,’ which would complement a company’s existing offer.
Mr Hinchcliffe stressed that Rothbury’s Church House is to be retained by the authority, and that the park is looking at leasing space in its buildings.
As a result of the cuts, the authority is also looking at axing 18 of its 80 jobs while the monitoring and maintenance of its 1,100 kilometres of rights of way, including two national trails, will be curtailed. The park contributes nearly £140m to the regional economy.
