TOURIST information centres in west Wiltshire are to lose their grants from West Wiltshire District Council.

The council's draft budget for 2005-6 was approved at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday night.

The £12.4m draft budget has been balanced by incorporating savings of £712,000, cutting costs, including cash spent on TICs, and increasing car parking fees.

Cutting funding to tourist information centres will save t£35,000 and increasing car parking fees will earn an extra £170,000. The district council's health promotion work will also be cut, saving £65,000.

The draft budget would result in the authority's council tax precept rising by 4.5 per cent, the same level of increase as last year.

Cllr Roy While, the finance and performance portfolio holder, said the process of setting the budget had been particularly difficult this year and said some tough decisions had to be made to free up resources.

He said: "We are withdrawing from health promotion and from running the tourist information centres, although we are working with our partners to see if these services can be maintained in a different way."

He said lack of certainty about levels of central government funding made had made it extremely difficult to plan for the coming year but he thought they had achieved their promise to keep council tax increases to a minimum.

The move puts tourist information centres in Trowbridge, Melksham, Westbury and Warminster at risk.

John Crook, clerk for Melksham Town Council, said: "The town council is bitterly disappointed but they have a budget problem and we understand that.