ANGER is growing over the decision to close the Marlborough Tourist Information Centre, which town councillors have been told is irreversible.

Members of the town council are so appalled they have taken the unprecedented step of calling a public meeting to let townspeople have their say.

This will provide the opportunity for comment from organisations including the chamber of commerce and the Marlborough Area Development Trust, which say they were not consulted over the closure plans.

Both organisations have slammed Kennet District Council's decision to close the present information centre in the George Lane car park and merge it with the Local Information Point in the town library.

The outcry over the cost cutting exercise has been fuelled by claims that Kennet failed to consult with the town council, the mayor Bill Cavill and Marlborough organisations over the closure plans.

Kennet councillor Tony Skittrall and former district councillor David Parker, who lost his seat at the May elections, told a town council meeting on Monday they had been aware of the proposal for months.

Responding to a member of public at question time, Coun Skittrall said: "It was discussed last November and the mayor was at that meeting."

Coun Cavill has denied knowing anything about the closure until the proposal was revealed in the Gazette two weeks ago.

Coun Nick Fogg, who was elected on to the district council at the local elections in May, said he had attempted to get Kennet to put the decision back to allow consultation but was told the decision had already been taken.

The Gazette discovered this week that the paid staff at the well-used centre, which has some voluntary workers as well, have already received redundancy notices. They have been told by Kennet not to discuss the situation.

Margaret Boulton, who represents Marlborough on Wiltshire County Council, said merging tourist information services with the Local Information Point in the library would be unworkable.

She told the town council on Monday that senior officers in the county libraries department had been unaware of Kennet's proposal. Coun Boulton said neither she nor the chief librarian at County Hall received any information about the merger.

She said: "Marlborough relies very heavily on tourism for its prosperity. Who, outside Wiltshire, has ever heard of Kennet District Council or even Devizes?

"Marlborough has been called the jewel in the crown of Kennet."

Coun Boulton said computerised kiosks that Kennet said it was considering putting in the High Street proving a 24-hour tourist information service would probably get vandalised.

Coun Fogg said a league table of tourist information centres in Wiltshire showed that Marlborough came second only to Salisbury in popularity while the one at Devizes, which Kennet is keeping open, was sixth.

He said: "The decision to close the Marlborough Tourist Information Centre has been taken over the heads of everyone in this town and anyone connected with tourism."

Mr Parker said he was chairman of Kennet's budget reduction committee, which discussed putting the Marlborough tourist office into the library where a major refurbishment would take place.

He said that when he left Kennet he was under the impression the George Lane centre would not close until the new merged service was open.

Coun Richard Allen said Kennet's own web site was a classic example of how it liked to keep the public abreast of council activities with one of its job vacancies having a closing date of December 2002.

Coun Allen said the merger had been justifiably criticised.

"The library is already overcrowded and deficient for the needs of this town," he said.

The council agreed to write to Kennet to say it was appalled the decision to shut the George Lane tourist office was now irreversible.

The public meeting will be held at the town hall as soon as a date can be agreed when Kennet officers and leading councillors can attend.