LESS well-used national park information centres are to close as part of a reorganisation.

In Craven, this will mean the closure of Clapham National Park Centre, which has had declining visitor numbers in recent years.

The performance of Malham's "flagship" National Park Centre is also to be monitored.

The proposals are part of a best value review, which was presented to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority on Tuesday.

The review highlights the fact that the park's information service costs over £1.1 million a year - 25 per cent of the authority's budget.

Figures also reveal that while the centres receive 600,000 visitors a year, this is only eight per cent of the total number of people who visit the park.

The review states: "The authority should be doing more to reach out to a wider public, so that they are aware of what makes it special."

It says one possibility is to invest in information points outside of the park.

Another proposal is to concentrate more on the park's website, which received 12,000 hits per month during the foot and mouth crisis. Figures show this service only cost £5,000 last year - or four pence per website visitor.

The review states how visitor numbers at Clapham have declined steadily from just over 50,000 in 1996/7 to 33,500 in 2000/1.

It says: "With tourist information centres located at Settle and Ingleton, the area is over-supplied with visitor information."

Gary Smith, the authority's head of conservation and policy, who led the review, said: "The review team are pleased with the high quality of the service. However, to ensure we continue to meet the public's changing demands, we do need to refocus.

"By investing in our most popular national park centres, a dedicated phone line for visitor information and a 'virtual visitor centre' on the web we will be meeting these demands.

"This means closing the Clapham National Park Centre, where visitor numbers have been steadily declining."

Staff from the authority's Clapham National Park Centre will be offered redeployment at one of the remaining park centres.

Regarding Malham, the review states: "While Malham receives around 100,000 visitors per year, annual visitor numbers have dropped by nearly 60,000 since 1996/97."

The majority of members welcomed the proposals but some worries were expressed.

David Ireton said: "I am concerned about Clapham. The report says its figures are down to 33,000, but that's still a lot of people."

And James Kendall said the report amounted to "penny pinching" and said national park centres also provided a service to the ratepayers and business people.

The authority will now set about implementing the 29 recommendations.

Meanwhile Craven District Council looks set to approve £38,000 of grant aid for struggling tourist information centres (TICs).

Regeneration and development committee members agreed several packages to assist visitor centres in Craven but their decision has to be confirmed by the policy and resources committee.

The measures include:

* Development work at Settle TIC, including the £3,483 rental of two rooms to be used as a manager's office and a training room, and £10,000 towards the running costs. This is an 82 per cent rise on last year.

* £5,000 contribution towards the operational costs of Ingleton TIC. This is a 76 per cent increase.

* £3,368 to Skipton TIC to help alleviate pressures on the cashflow, £10,200 towards the running costs and £6,000 towards the provision of an electronic information point at Skipton TIC.

Coun Beth Graham suggested that the training facilities for the Settle and District Chamber of Trade and the tourist information centre be combined, reducing the overhead costs.