A RADICAL overhaul is needed if Hambleton's tourist information centres are to keep up with the times, a meeting will be told this week.

At present, all but one of the district's facilities are run by volunteers. Only Thirsk has a paid member of staff, although the post includes responsibility for monitor- ing the performance of others.

However, members of the district council's cabinet will be told on Thursday that difficulties recruiting people prepared to work weekends, and a reluctance among some to adapt to new technology, could mean the service fails to meet recognised guidelines in future.

Both Bedale and Northallerton are without managers, with no applications from anyone interested in filling the vacant posts.

"The Tourist Information Service in Hambleton has to change fundamentally in order to improve the service," a report compiled jointly by the council's David Goodwin and Steve Quartermain said.

"If it does not change in the current climate of the industry utilising information technology, the service will fall further behind."

Suggested solutions include increasing the hours covered by the paid member of staff and the hours of operation at Thirsk, while developing links with schools and colleges in the hope of attracting young people who could work on the counters as part of their work experience programmes.

However, some tourist information centres may also be reclassified as tourist information points and the responsibility for running them handed back to the communities they serve.