PETERSFIELD Town Council is to look at taking the town visitor centre in house and move it from the library in The Square to the Town Hall in the Festival Hall car park.

The proposal to evacuate the centre currently run by Tourism South East on behalf of the council from the library.

As part of the new set up, the council would commit to funding and running for five-years at least.

At the moment the centre costs the council £46,000 a year to run.

But the town development committee, an independent committee answerable to the town council, heard at its meeting on Friday, September 4, that the centre as it stands isn’t value for money.

Under the new plans, the centre and staff would move to the Town Hall and be directly run by the council, who would employ the staff.

Refurbished offices would be made available on the ground floor of the hall, these could include a ‘retail’ outlet selling Petersfield-branded goods, maps and other town related items.

But to make it viable for the centre to leave the easily accessible central Square and move to the out-of-the-way town hall, the centre’s online tourism presence would have to be improved the committee heard.

The committee’s tourism working group is to now prepare a report for the council’s finance committee outlining the benefits, or otherwise, of taking on the centre, and the likely annual and future cost.

It is to also recommend a likely home – town centre, or town hall – if it is decided the centre should leave the library.

The centre came to be run by the town council after East Hampshire District Council stopped paying for it in April 2018 (pictured).

The district council claimed it wasn’t good value, and much of its output could be done better via effective online marketing.

Petersfield Town Council then took it over with a view to running it for two years with Tourism South East.

During that time the council has monitored its operation, and will now decide its future.