A PARISH council has announced it will close its visitor centre with immediate effect.

Tintagel Parish Council has announced that it is ‘re-focusing its spending within the parish’ by closing the parish centre in favour of creating a more accessible community hub.

Councillor Zoe Coshall, chair of Tintagel Parish Council, said: “The council has evaluated the costs of running the visitor centre many times in the past and with prices increasing on every level now, we really need to channel the parish’s monies into providing as much support as we can for our community’s benefit.

“We’ve already introduced a regular dental service, drop-in sessions to help locals with their energy bill queries and times to meet our local police personnel, but now we want to explore new ways we can provide greater assistance for our community.

“There are so many gaps in services here in Cornwall and we’ve tasked our community connector Chelly Sturgess to talk to the villages to see what else we can bring to the community hub to make it a valuable asset for even more locals.

“Our community has to come first and we’re now even more determined to ensure that we try to fill the gaps in services where we can for the people of Tintagel.”

A spokesperson for the council added: “The visitor centre element of the building will close with immediate effect and the council would like to thank all of the wonderful crafters who have displayed their items over the years and to specifically acknowledge the tremendous efforts of the band of volunteers who have helped signpost the many tourists who visit the parish.

“Their time and energy have been essential to making the visitor centre so useful and the council are therefore keen to hear what other ways they think they could help with the new focus for the building.