Monmouth Town councillors have been told that no decision has been made on the Friday and Saturday markets.

The comment was made by Councillor Bob Greenland, (pictured right) deputy leader of Monmouthshire County Council (MCC), in reference to the markets that currently trade from the Blestium Street car park.

Cllr Greenland and Kellie Beirne, chief officer for regeneration and culture, spoke to Monmouth Town Council last Tuesday (4th January) about Monmouthshire's Tourist Information Centres (TICs) and "how they could best encourage as many tourists into the area as possible" and improve to meet the changing ways in which tourists access information.

We are not moving with the times," said Cllr Greenland, "and Ms Beirne has been charged with looking at how her area of responsibility works.

"She has come up with some very interesting facts and the way she put them together has in fact very much focussed the minds of many of us at County Hall," he added.

"One of the striking issues is the number of people who now gain their tourist advice through electronic means.

"We are not properly delivering, we are not moving with the times and Kellie has pointed that out in very stark terms, and so the question arises, 'are we delivering the tourist project as best we can?'

"I personally believe that we need now to recognise that digital tourism is a growing factor and we need to divert some of our money towards that.

"What we wanted to do was to enter into a period of consultation, beginning on Monday 10th January for six weeks, at the end of which we will take everything into account and hopefully make a decision within council into the way we are going to restructure our tourism services."

Ms Beirne then spoke about her role with MCC and about how there was a need to innovate.

"Tourism is vitally important to the Monmouthshire economy," she said.

"The tourism industry is changing. The aim at the moment is to review the current provision under the banner of tourist information services, " she added.

MCC has three TICs, in Monmouth, Chepstow and a shared service in Abergavenny with Brecon Beacons National Park, which cost £190,000 per annum, over half of the total tourism budget.

"There has been an overall decline in visitor numbers," said Ms Beirne.

"For the financial year 2008 to 2009 the number was 133,500 and for 2009 to 2010 it dropped to 124,000, a 10,000 drop over a year."

Monmouth TIC has been worst hit with 16,500 visitors in 2009/10, compared with 40,000 in Chepstow and 61,000 in Abergavenny.

The cost per visitor over a year is £3.11, increasing to £4.90 in the winter per visitor.

While they were seeing a decline in visitors, there was a "simultaneous rise in the number of hits on the Monmouthshire tourism websites".

The website hits for the same periods show that for 2008/9, there were 2.6 million hits, rising to 8.9 million hits for 2009/10, a significant increase with an average of six to seven minutes per hit.

"Perhaps the TICs don't have the function they once did as a booking service," said Ms Beirne.

She informed the councillors that CADW has moved to web-based information, Powys is cutting its TICs from 14 down to one and Gwynedd has restructured its tourist information outlets.

"A number of local authorities in England are also moving away from traditional TIC bases to digital online services," said Ms Beirne.

She also explained there were lots of different options for MCC to potentially plug into, such as Facebook and Twitter.

She finished by inviting people "to respond to some key questions we are going to pose about the future of TICs in Monmouthshire."

Cllr Gerry Bright said that a simple answer to the drop in figures for Monmouth is that the TIC has been hidden away for the past two years.

"You have not elaborated on the breakdown in communication between us, which is why you are here," he said.

Cllr Greenland responded: "We have concentrated on the TIC aspects as this meeting was brought about because of that issue.

"If you feel that communications have broken down, then that is something I would like to hear about.

"My personal opinion is that it hasn't, as in terms of the TICs, we are going to consult."

Cllr Jeana Hall said: "I wish Ms Beirne had come to Monmouth before she did all this work to see where we are and how we feel about this.

"I think this is a sad state of affairs."

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Cllr Terry Christopher said: "Another major issue in this town is the status of the market and the position as to where is is sited in the future.

"I understand decisions have been made and as far as I am awaree, we were not consulted.

"What are your plans for the future for opening up? At the moment there does not seem to be any direct means of communication regarding the market."

Cllr Greenland said MCC was "well aware of the situation, and here again is an issue where the information is not correct".

"We have not taken any decision, it is part of an ongoing discussion at the moment, no decision has been made as the whether it comes back," he added.

Cllr Richard Bond said: "We were told quite plainly by an officer of MCC that a decision had been made, and to say no decision had been made strikes me as not quite true".

Cllr Greenland said there might have been a recommendation by officers, but not one he was aware of.

"I imagine a final decision would need to come from a cabinet member and I am almost cetain that that has not happened," he added.

Cllr Sue White asked how Ms Bernie could not be part of the decision on the markets even though she is responsible for the running of the Shire Hall.

Ms Beirne said: "Any decision on the markets needs to be looked at in the context of developing a viable business plan for the Shire Hall.

"Once we have some recomendations and have worked on this, we will share it and we will consult before arriving at a final decision."

Cllr Bob Hayward said there seemed to have been a complete turnaround in the past three years from the TIC being an major part of the Shire Hall with the public coming face to face with an officer who can pass the information across to them, to offering an internet service, and it's this turnaround that has taken everyone by surprise.

"If," he asked, "there was a negative opinion during the consultation would it alter the views the council would take?"

Cllr Greenland told members there is more than one way to deliver tourist information, but hoped there would be a positive consultaion process.

David Cummings, chairman of Monmouth's Chamber of Trade and Commerce, told the meeting he welcomed the definitive period of consultation but pointed out that figures released to him showed that visitor numbers for Monmouth had increased by 16 per cent per calendar year.

Grahame Thomas, vice-chair of the Shire Hall Stewards, said this "beautiful building" had to have a future, the TIC was part of the busines plan put forward and asked if it would have a financial implication if the TIC did not return.

Ms Beirne said visitor figures were based on the financial year, with trends and patterns broke down by season and by financial year.

Thanking them both, members then continued with their meeting.

Cllr Terry Christopher said: "Another major issue in this town is the status of the market and the position as to where is is sited in the future.

"I understand decisions have been made and as far as I am aware, we were not consulted.

"What are your plans for the future for opening up? At the moment there does not seem to be any direct means of communication regarding the market."

Cllr Greenland said MCC was "well aware of the situation, and here again is an issue where the information is not correct".

"We have not taken any decision, it is part of an ongoing discussion at the moment, no decision has been made as the whether it comes back," he added.

Cllr Richard Bond said: "We were told quite plainly by an officer of MCC that a decision had been made, and to say no decision had been made strikes me as not quite true".

Cllr Greenland said there might have been a recommendation by officers, but not one he was aware of.

"I imagine a final decision would need to come from a cabinet member and I am almost cetain that that has not happened," he added.

Cllr Sue White asked how Ms Beirne could not be part of the decision on the markets even though she is responsible for the running of the Shire Hall.

Ms Beirne said: "Any decision on the markets needs to be looked at in the context of developing a viable business plan for the Shire Hall.

"Once we have some recomendations and have worked on this, we will share it and we will consult before arriving at a final decision."

Cllr Bob Hayward said there seemed to have been a complete turnaround in the past three years from the TIC being a major part of the Shire Hall with the public coming face to face with an officer who can pass the information across to them, to offering an internet service, and it's this turnaround that has taken everyone by surprise.

"If," he asked, "there was a negative opinion during the consultation would it alter the views the council would take?"

Cllr Greenland told members there is more than one way to deliver tourist information, but hoped there would be a positive consultaion process.

David Cummings, chairman of Monmouth's Chamber of Trade and Commerce, told the meeting he welcomed the definitive period of consultation but pointed out that figures released to him showed that visitor numbers for Monmouth had increased by 16 per cent per calendar year.

Grahame Thomas, vice-chair of the Shire Hall Stewards, said this "beautiful building" had to have a future, the TIC was part of the busines plan put forward and asked if it would have a financial implication if the TIC did not return.

Ms Beirne said visitor figures were based on the financial year, with trends and patterns broken down by season and by financial year. Thanking them both, members then continued with their meeting.