Councillor John Huxley, chairman of Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council
THE first consultation session to decide the future of the district's threatened visitor information centres has taken place in Haworth. This event was held at the Old White Lion, in West Lane yesterday evening. (Feb 2) Bradford Council's budget plans for the centres – at Haworth, Ilkley, Saltaire and Bradford – include a £19,000 cut this year and a massive £172,000 reduction in 2017-18, which the authority warns could result in closures. The Haworth Visitor Information Centre is in West Lane. Councillor John Huxley, chairman of Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council, said: "Bradford Council has to make savings, and they believe new technology has a role to play – as do I. "But the Haworth Visitor Information Centre is one of the places in the village which you never see empty. "It is a very important facility and if we're going to be taken seriously as a tourist destination we must have a tourist office of some kind. "As a parish council it's the kind of place we're anxious not to lose, and as a council it's the kind of facility we'd be interested in trying to save. "But that's something we'd first have to discuss in depth at a full council meeting."
Cllr Huxley added that two members of the parish council were due to report back from the consultation in Haworth on Tuesday. Matt Stroh, chairman of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, said it was important Bradford Council retained a physical presence in Haworth to help visitors, even if it was not as extensive as the current information centre. He suggested staff explored new ways of meeting the needs of many tourists who preferred to seek information before they set out from home. He said: “I’d like there to be investment in tourism in Haworth. I appreciate the centres may have to change their focus to meet the needs of people nowadays, but I don’t think closure is the answer. “I think Haworth would suffer greatly if there wasn’t some kind of physical hub for information and activity.” Haworth Main Street trader Mike Hutchinson, who owns a bed and breakfast, said it was "ridiculous" to even consider axing the village's only tourist information centre.
He said that if such a closure were to happen, it would be the latest in a series of cuts to public services to hit the village. "What on earth is Bradford Council up to with regards to Haworth?" he asked. "Are they creeping up on everything in Haworth with a giant axe to kill everything off?
"Don't they know Haworth is a tourist area bringing revenue to the whole area?
"As with a lot of other things, Bradford will go in years to come, 'Oops we shouldn't have done that.' A lot of these facilities are used by locals and visitors alike."
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