THE Citizens Advice Bureau has pulled out of Ledbury, almost a full month ahead of schedule, and citing cash cuts as the reason.

The service, in the Master's House, has been supported by Ledbury Town Council, to the tune of £1800 a year.

But most of the funding has come from Herefordshire Council and, in January, the county announced it was pulling the plug completely, and it only agreed to a much reduced and one-off award to the CAB in February.

Talks are continuing, but at present there is not enough money in the pot to keep Ledbury's CAB service going.

The closure of the town's CAB outreach service dismays Ledbury's newly elected mayor, Cllr Annette Crowe, who said the issue would be discussed by the town council.

Cllr Crowe expressed the hope that the service might be re-instated in the future.

Cllr Crowe said: "It's a wait and see situation; but this news is extremely disappointing.

"I understand the need to save money, but this service helps the most vulnerable members of society.

"This will obviously be discussed by the town council. I don't know what can be done. It obviously costs money to keep the CAB, and we are restrained with our own funding as well."

She added: "I think the closure is very sad, but I am hoping the service can be reinstated at a later date, if funding returns."

The CAB was coming to the Information Centre on St Katherine's car park on the first and third Tuesday each month, from 9.30am to 2.30pm.

The CAB bureau closures were planned for June 1, not only for Ledbury, but also for Leominster, Bromyard and Ross.

Cuts also mean that drop-in hours at the Hereford bureau will be halved to three mornings a week.

But the closure of Ledbury's 'outreach' CAB bureau has come even earlier than expected.

Claire Keetch, Chief Executive of Herefordshire CAB, said: "I can confirm that the Ledbury outreach has closed - the last session was on May 5. The CAB in Ledbury had been available on the first and third Tuesday of each month - but in May the session on May 19 had been a planned closure anyway, hence the last session turning out to be May 5."

She added: "Citizens Advice is by far the best known, trusted and respected independent source of advice, provided free-of-charge and particularly valuable to people who do not have the means to pay for advice. In the last year the bureau handled over 6,000 cases locally, providing financial benefit of nearly £4 million to some of Herefordshire’s poorest citizens.

"Back in January, Herefordshire Council ended its long standing grant support to the Citizens Advice Bureaux, funding which stood at over £117,000 per annum. In February this year Full Council approved a one off £50,000 award to the bureau.

"It will be a tragedy if this absolutely essential service is no longer available to the Herefordshire’s citizens. The organisation is continuing to discuss with Herefordshire Council how the continuation of the CAB’s advice service can be achieved."