Weymouth could be set to get a new Tourist Information Centre with proposals moving one step closer.

Councillors on Weymouth Town Council’s services committee will meet tomorrow to consider bringing forward a business case paper exploring the options for a new facility .

The town previously had an information centre on the Esplanade and, then, in the Pavilion before being closed as a result of cost-cutting moves by Dorset Council in 2013.

Temporary information points have popped up at various times since but councillors are set to consider a new permanent hub after the Weymouth Information Shop had been ‘inundated with requests for the type of information supplied by a TIC’.

A number of options would be explored in any business case - ranging from a standalone, permanent information centre to a seasonal, mobile option.

Councillor Alex Fuhrmann, committee member, said a TIC should be used to ‘take Weymouth to the people’ and highlight what the town has to offer.

He said: “We need to aim to be better than Bournemouth and get people that are on that train from Waterloo to stay those extra stops and come and see what Weymouth is all about.

“There’s no doubt a tourist information would benefit the town but I’d like to see us be innovative with it and perhaps take it round the county - to shows and events and bring the information to people rather than wait for them to come to us.”

The agenda for the services committee, the meeting of which can be viewed on the council’s YouTube channel, said a new TIC would: “help to raise the profile of Weymouth, improve the local economy, support local businesses, and improve the Weymouth tourism offer by providing a range of key outputs, outcomes and benefits through the project.

An impact assessment prepared for the committee identifies a number of benefits from the proposals - noting that the project would increase footfall to Weymouth’s town, beaches, parks and gardens, and provide increased accessibility to the culture and heritage that the town has to offer.

The assessment noted, however, that the increased football would also likely increase the amount of ‘noise, air emissions and litter’ and could potentially ‘waste money on setting up something that is already being provided.’ At the meeting, councillors will hear that there are a number of ‘Weymouth focussed websites’ providing information that a ‘physical TIC would potentially be duplicating’. They will be asked to consider if the council should provide such a service and, if there is an agreement in providing one, to determine an option that they would like to see progress to a full project plan.

The town council’s services committee will meet on Wednesday January 18 at 7pm in the council chambers on Commercial Road.