WHEN will Fenland District Council realise that to create thriving and vibrant market towns you need to recognise their individual strengths and what sets them apart from other towns?

Wisbech’s unique selling point is leisure and tourism. It has elegant Georgian architecture (the backdrop for many TV and film dramas), a National Trust house and garden, Elgood’s Brewery tours and garden, a purpose-built museum open five days a week, port and yacht harbour, national and international cycle routes and award-winning parks and gardens.

It is also the birthplace of two social reformers, Octavia Hill and Thomas Clarkson.

It has a theatre and cinema and East Anglia’s premier flower festival and, crucially, welcoming and knowledgeable Tourist Information staff who guide, inform and help visitors to make the most of their stay.

Behind the scenes these staff also train and support the customer advisers in the other one-stop shops and are at the end of a phone to give advice. They collect and distribute information and leaflets and keep web information up to date.

Making these staff redundant and replacing them with computer terminals in one-stop shops and supermarkets will not improve the tourism service across Fenland but it will downgrade the tourism offer in Wisbech.

There is huge confidence in tourism in Wisbech at present with businesses, organisations and volunteers devoting time, money and energy to support and develop it.

I would urge Fenland District Council to think again. By all means create a more dynamic website to raise the profile of Fenland nationally but let us keep our special offer too.

PENNY STOCKS

One, of many volunteers supporting tourism in Wisbech

Via e-mail