CAMPAIGNERS have failed in a last ditch attempt to save a tourist facility used by more than 130,000 people a year.

Civic chiefs have rubber-stamped their earlier decision to axe a Visitor Information Centre (VIC) which forms part of the New Forest Centre in Lyndhurst.

The information centre is due to close next April in a bid to save £60,000 a year.

Members of New Forest District Council's ruling cabinet met last month and approved proposals to shut the VIC.

The decision was ratified during Monday's meeting of the authority, despite a last ditch attempt to overturn the cabinet's decision.

Cllr David Harrison, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition group, presented the ruling Tory group with an online petition signed by almost 1,000 people.

He said: "It's not the worst decision ever made by this administration but it's in the top ten.

"You can see the cost of things but not the value."

Cllr Harrison said visitors would be "shocked" when they arrived in the New Forest next summer and found that the VIC had closed.

Members of the Tory group stressed that the rest of the New Forest Centre, which includes a museum and a gift shop, would remain open.

Cllr Maureen Holding said: "The staff at the information centre have done a wonderful job but there are great financial constraints on our budget.

"A lot of our money has been cut and we are having to look at everything very carefully."