Tourist information centres in Dorchester, Sherborne and Wareham could miss the start of the tourist season when lockdown ends.

Dorset Council will stop funding the three centres in April with no plans currently in place for a replacement service.

Dorchester and Sherborne town councils have expressed a willingness to take over the tourist information role, possibly in a different form, while Wareham Town Council has said it will help, but does not want to run the service itself.

To date no agreement has been reached in any of the three areas for a replacement service although talks are continuing with Dorset Council.

The last three centres which the council fund cost around £200,000 a year to run with 12 part-time staff. In other towns there is either no service or it is run with the help of town councils and volunteers.

Between the three centres which are no longer being funded they attracted around 90,000 visits last year.

Cllr Jill Haynes, portfolio holder for customer and community services, says the council had little alternative, in its financial situation, other than to reduce non-statutory services, although it still plays a strategic role in tourism through Visit Dorset.

Dorchester resident John Calvert told the Dorset Council Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that he had been a regular user of the tourist information centre for 10 years and welcome the news that Dorchester Town Council might step in to help, but said their response was still at an early stage.

He told the meeting he is worried about the gap in services which now seem inevitable: "If tourism is so important for Dorset and in particular for Dorchester why is Dorset Council stopping the funding and releasing the expert staff before agreeing a replacement service?

"Some transitional funding is no substitute for proper planning," he said.

Dorset Council says it will make a limited amount of transitional funding available for anyone who takes on the service.

Cllr Haynes said talks were ongoing with ward councillors, the town councils and volunteer groups about putting a replacement service in place, with further discussions planned this week.

Dorchester town clerk Adrian Stuart said he would anticipate the town council's service gradually increasing over the next 12 months as it recruits a member of staff and they start developing the materials that partners will use to provide a basic level of service.

"We would expect to start putting pieces of info in place before the main summer season starts. We are actively working on an app with Dorchester BID that will provide a good amount of local info and which should launch before the summer holidays," said the town clerk.