Forum for residents of St Georges Park and Long Leys Road Lincoln

[john shipton]

The two TICs are closing down in Lincoln per Lincoln City Council decision.
This is what other cities have said and what one of our local residents said in the Lincolnshire Echo today, 13th March...

Tourist centre closure plans 'silly' and 'misguided'

Friday, March 13, 2009, 07:30

Cathedral cities in England have slammed news that Lincoln is to lose its tourist information centres.
The decision to axe the centres to cut costs has been described as "silly", "very misguided" and "a huge mistake".
Tourism spokesmen in Durham, Sheffield and York say their counterparts in Lincoln do not understand the full implications of losing the centres.
The two centres in Cornhill and Castle Square will close in September, resulting in 10 redundancies. The move, along with restructuring the authority's marketing functions, will save the City of Lincoln Council £290,000 per year.
When asked for his opinion, Durham city tourism manager Martin Boulton said: "Silly would be one word, but I could give you a stronger one for it.
"In the last five to 10 years Lincoln's made great strides in tourism which have been recognised around the country.
"It might be very seductive to cut tourism information centres but it's because people don't understand – they're a huge boost to the local economy."
Wendy Ulyett, leisure and tourism manager at Yorkshire South Tourism, said authorities in Sheffield made the same decision to close down its centres, but then changed their minds.
"It only took a few weeks to realise it wasn't a decision that was of benefit to visitors or residents," she said.
City council leader Darren Grice said: "In other cities, they may have a different opinion, but we believe that, together with our partners at Lincolnshire County Council and Lincolnshire Tourism, the City of Lincoln Council will deliver a robust and forward-thinking tourist information service that is accessible to everyone."
For more on the closure of the centres, plus more reaction from other cities, see Friday's Echo.

Cutting the lifeblood that supports so many

Friday, March 13, 2009, 07:30Comment on this story

THE closure of both its tourist information centres marks a dreadful day for the future of Lincoln.
The life-blood of our tourist industry, which includes hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city's tourist information centres, will drain away as the closures effectively rip the heart out of our tourism and its potential.
Councillor Grice is "fully aware of the emotional arguments". In that case, may I make an entirely practical argument by referring to the city council's own website, which contains a document on the subject entitled Impact Assessment.
Effects include "loss of promotion and local knowledge, Doddington Hall, cathedral, Collection, archives, Museum of Lincs Life (2008 visitor study revealed that most of its visitors came via tourist offices), Bishop's Palace, The Lawn, Ellis Mill and so on. Loss of promotion for ghost walks, boat trips, Theatre Royal, Drill Hall". The document clearly states: "Lincolnshire tourism – massively affected by TIC closure..."
Other effects mentioned in the document include the future loss of promotion of events, advertising space, referrals to what's on and the vital loss of a huge number of direct bookings and referrals for hotels and restaurants. This applies to local businesses, shops, transport services, educational services, the Christmas market – the list goes on. Even the football would be affected.
The diverse range of leaflets available to tourists would dwindle, not to mention the massive wealth of staff knowledge on Lincoln and Lincolnshire that would be lost.
Apart from requests for holiday guides, the TICs posted 9,647 replies to requests for literature and information between 2006 and January 2009. There were a similar number of e-mail requests handled by the TICs and the phone calls run to tens of thousands.
What message does this give to our visitors and potential customers? It is ludicrous that Lincoln, a prominent historic cathedral city which relies on tourism as one of its main core busineses, should not have a tourist office.
Lincoln's tourist offices have been the hub of tourist information for the city and county for the last 40 years, having double the amount of visitors than any other tourist office in Lincolnshire.
The knock-on effect to the county includes a massive impact on the information to visitors about places to stay and visit and things to do, with a very negative effect on businesses.
The strong euro and proposed rail link would suggest an increase in visitors from Europe and the UK with nowhere for them to find out local information on what to see or do – the Internet is not a substitute in my opinion.
The council is struggling for cash and resorting to desperate measures like withdrawing support for the Theatre Royal. That was a shame but this latest act of cultural sabotage is almost laughable in its shortsightedness.
The council needs money urgently, so it removes the main source of support for the city's major industry. Tourism fails, businesses crash and the council's revenue is decimated. Brilliant or what?
Surely the relatively small amount of money could be better saved elsewhere. I don't know how much 100 metres of new road costs but I bet a short distance would amount to the sum needed to literally save Lincoln's tourist industry.
For now, and for our children, I urge the council to rethink and save the money elsewhere.
PAUL HOWARD
Mercer Drive, Lincoln.

[john shipton]

What else coming to make Lincoln look as just a backwater to visit?
See below of further news...

NEW TOURIST BLOW AS TRAVEL CENTRE FACES AXE

Monday, March 16, 2009, 07:30

Another nail looks set to be driven into Lincoln's coffin with a plan to axe the one remaining tourist information service.
It has already been announced that both the city's Tourist Information Centres will close.
Today, the Echo can reveal that the Travel Centre at Lincoln Central Station could close under cost-cutting plans by East Midlands Trains.
The office handles travel and timetable queries, and also gives tourism information.
EMT spokesman Debbie Mather said: "Following the announcement East Midlands Trains made about the potential loss of 162 jobs, we are now in consultation with our staff and their various trades unions about this."
Chairman of the Lincolnshire branch of pressure group Railfuture Alan Waddington said any move to close the Travel Centre was "as bad as closing the tourist information centres".
"I think tourism is as important to Lincolnshire, if not more so, than agriculture, and often people need information face-to- face," he said.
Lincoln's Labour group have called in the decision on the Tourist Information Centres.
"The fight to save the tourist information centres is by no means over," said group leader Ric Metcalfe.
"We will be asking the scrutiny committee to call in this recklessly stupid decision on the grounds that the executive failed to properly take into account the adverse impact on a vital part of Lincoln's economy."
For more on the Travel Centre threat, see Monday's Echo.

[john shipton]

Paul Howard, one of our local residents has gone to town over what happens at council meetings held at City Hall.
Here is his latest contribution of his letter published in the Echo yesterday.
Makes your wonder!

Lost – a golden chance to rethink tourist office mess
Saturday, April 18, 2009, 07:30

ARE the citizens of Lincoln being hoodwinked by some members of the city council?
The timing of the recent press release which inspired the Echo headline "Tourist centre escapes the axe" (April 4) is interesting.
At the council meeting of Tuesday, April 7, the public gallery was populated by half a dozen or so of the present TIC employees and a few members of the public.
There were plenty of empty seats at a meeting I expected to be crammed with irate citizens of Lincoln. Maybe it is thought the future of our tourist industry is now safe? Well, it isn't!
The meeting itself was not quite what might have been expected. The main show of the evening was a "call in" of the Executive's decision of March 9 to close the TICs.
This was an eloquent and well argued effort by councillors Ric Metcalfe and Donald Nannestad to have the decision rescinded on the grounds of lack of adequate consultation and that the decision taken was not reasonable.
No deviation whatsoever from that specific agenda was allowed by the chair and this meant no discussion of the proposed deal with Lincoln Business Improvement Group (BIG).
This inevitably led to some farcical moments with councillors walking a verbal minefield trying to avoid mentioning the very existence of such a deal... with phrases like "that subject we're not allowed to mention"!
Councillor Hilton Spratt added to the entertainment – he was in the intriguing position of being required to defend the Executive's correctness in its decision making procedure but having voted against the decision himself on the day. He defended the Executive side staunchly but he was rather wrong-footed by Coun Metcalfe's question on whether detailed consultation with local groups had actually taken place before or after March 9 (a key point, surely).
He was unable to recall when consultation had taken place. I suspect not much consultation did happen before that date and certainly not in detail, but nobody was going to admit that. There was of course a furore of "consultation" after March 9 due to the phenomenal level of public indignation.
Incidentally, Coun Spratt did elect to reply to the question as to why he voted against the closures. It was a matter of conscience and he wished to "keep the door ajar" for further discussion.
Other councillors put their oars in but the result had a predictable inevitability. Despite suggestions that the reputation of the council was in question if everyone voted along party lines, that was exactly what happened.
All Coun Metcalfe's team voted for the motion. All the Conservatives voted against it and their majority carried the day. A golden opportunity to take the TIC issue back to square one for proper consultation with the citizens and business folk of Lincoln was lost.
As we stand now the proposed deal with BIG seems flawed (as suggested in the April 7 Echo article).
Even if BIG remains in operation, as few as four of the 13 TIC professionals will remain employed, the closure of the Cornhill TIC will undoubtedly be brought forward and the function of the Castle Hill TIC will be much altered.
I hope that it will be standing room only in the public gallery for the meeting to discuss the new plan – that will be on Monday, May 11.
PAUL HOWARD Mercer Drive, Lincoln.