A GROUP dedicated to creating a vibrant town centre for Malvern has slammed plans to move the town's tourist information centre.

The criticism by High Street Malvern comes after Malvern Hills District Council approved a proposal to shift the TIC from its present location at the top of Church Street to a revamped council building in Avenue Road.

In a letter to the council, High Street Malvern chairman Roger Sutton said: "The centre is in the best possible location for such a facility and acts as a generator of business from many thousands of visitors each year.

"The staff are a great asset to tourism, being knowledgeable and helpful on all that Malvern and the hills have to offer.

"We feel that the moving of the centre out of its present location will have a serious negative effect on trading in a part of the town that is already struggling."

Speaking to the Gazette this week, Mr Sutton said: "With the Isis clothes shop in Church Street closed recently, and the knitting shop in Graham Road closing shortly, and the Nat West bank going next year, the last thing we need is something else moving away from the town centre.

"Visitors fan out into the town and go to the shops, the cafes and so on. If the council wants to save money, it would be better to move somewhere smaller and cheaper in the town centre, rather than leave it."

In September, the district council voted in favour of a £1.4 million scheme to replace the existing council chamber at Avenue Road, which would also provide a new home for the TIC.

Council leader Phil Grove said: “The decision to move the TIC was to secure the continued future of a face-to-face service in a central visitor location whilst reducing our overheads through a community hub arrangement.

"We appreciate that there may be concern about vacating the Tourist Information Centre building; however this is not anticipated to take place until late 2018 and with proactive marketing in the build-up, we are confident that the prominent building will attract a new occupier.

"Great Malvern does not have a high shop vacancy rate and having some vacancies is typical in that it provides opportunities for other businesses to set up in to the town centre.”