CHIPPENHAM NEWS: Corsham residents could face tax rises to pay for their tourist information centre.

The town council is considering whether it can take on the running of the TIC, which costs £50,000 a year.

Currently funded by North Wiltshire District Council, it is the only tourist information centre in north and west Wiltshire that has not already been handed over from a district council to a town council.

Chairman of the town council, Jock Fraser said the local precept would have to be raised by 20 per cent to cover the cost.

When he asked members of the public at the annual town meeting on Thursday whether they would be prepared to pay, about half said they would.

Resident Anne Lock said: "It's really central to the town that we continue to have that facility.

"I was under the misconception for a long time that the tourist information centre was not for me because I'm a resident, not a tourist, but we underestimate how much they do for us."

Martin Yallop, TIC co-ordinator, said 24,000 people visited the facility last year.

District councillor Christine Reid said: "I have no intention as a Corsham resident of seeing the tourist information centre close. You can really be 100 per cent clear on that."

But she said TICs were changing as town and parish councils took them on.

"I am committed to seeing it remain open in one form or another," she said.