Trust promoting market town folds over funding
Getty ImagesA trust promoting a market town's attractions has ceased operating after its funding was pulled.
Hexham Community Partnership (HCP), which ran Visit Hexham, has announced it is closing down due to a lack of money.
Chairman Neil Wilkinson said the board had made the decision with "great regret" after Hexham Town Council decided to discontinue grant funding, which represented the majority of the trust's income.
Mayor Derek Kennedy said the town council had given the trust more than £250,000 in the last four years. He said services run by HCP would continue to operate by other organisations.
"The public will not see a difference, other than that somebody else is delivering the events or particular services," said Kennedy.
He said the town council was not seeking to make a saving and the money would be redirected to other beneficiaries, including to run the projects and events that HCP was responsible for.
'Proud of achievements'
A statement published on HCP's website by Wilkinson said the trust was in talks with staff about redundancies.
He thanked staff and board members for their work and said he was proud of what the trust had achieved over the last 20 years.
"The annual grant from the town council represented the majority of our income, and despite significant work behind the scenes, with such short notice, we have simply not been able to quickly identify enough financial support to allow us to continue," he said.
The BBC has contacted HCP for an interview but has not received a response.
Kennedy said the town council had been giving HCP "substantial sums for many years", with last year's grant amounting to £57,000.
"That was 50% of all grant funding we gave out," he said.
He added HCP had been advised that "this situation couldn't go on forever" and it needed to find alternative funding.
By comparison, neighbouring Prudhoe and Haltwhistle gave equivalent organisations £1,500 and £6,000 respectively last year, Kennedy said.
"It's very sad, because we worked very closely together over the years, but we couldn't continue this relationship the way it was," he said.
