THE future of tourist information offices at Lyme Regis and Sherborne look unlikely to be agreed until after the change in local government in Dorset in April next year.

Both offices are currently run by West Dorset District Council which will cease to exist.

In Sherborne talks have been held about the possibility of transferring the office to the Sherborne Arts Trust who would run the TIC at its new Paddock Gallery – although that is now unlikely to be opened until 2020 or 2021.

If the arts group are not prepared to take on the existing tourist office before the Gallery is opened council staff will explore the possibility of Sherborne Town Council taking over responsibility for it.

In Lyme Regis the district and town councils have been discussing the transfer of the town’s tourist office for almost two years, linked with talks about other assets, but have failed to reach agreement.

A report to the November 20th West Dorset overview and scrutiny committee says that if agreement cannot be reached the TIC will transfer to the new Dorset Council in April 2019 leaving it to continue negotiating, if it chooses to do so.

The report also notes that the face of tourism is changing and that the visitdorset.com website, which is run as a partnership between local councils, annually achieves over two million visits a year.