AN internet appeal to help the cash-strapped Dartmouth Tourist Information Centre has raised just £241 at the same time that a financial adviser has warned the operation could be heading for a fall.

A Crowdfunder project launched at the beginning of August by TIC board member Francesca Johnson had aimed to bring in £5,000 for the centre.

But at the end of the month-long exercise, the total fell way short of the target and put a question mark over the future funding of the TIC, which costs £120,000 a year to run.

Ms Johnson said the TIC was looking to raise £30,000 for various projects, including taking on apprentices and revamping the layout of the busy centre – often described as the shop window of the town.

And she claimed that without over 4,000 hours of volunteer time provided by the local team, the centre would probably have closed down years ago and indeed earlier management teams ‘had to cope with insolvency’ before the existing group took over.

Earlier this year, TIC chairman Angie Cairns-Sharp also made an emotional plea to Dartmouth Town Council to up its annual grant of £3,000, amid fears that the centre may be forced to shut up shop unless extra funding could be found.

Now it has emerged that the TIC has gone from being in what once appeared to be a reasonably healthy position into a downward spiral – losing £30,000 in three years.

A marked deterioration in the information centre’s finances over the past few years has been highlighted by a finance expert.

The Dartmouth Chronicle asked the adviser, who did not want to be named, to look over the TIC’s published abbreviated accounts since Dartmouth and District Guide Ltd started running the operation in 2004.

He told us: ‘The TIC seemed to have weathered the recession quite well and by the end of August 2011 its balance sheet looked in fairly good nick, with the company’s value, total net assets, being £33,625, cash at bank around £40,500 and creditors around £33,250.

‘By August 31, 2012, stocks had fallen around £8,000, from almost £12,000, to less than £4,000; but creditors were down to £14,000; cash at bank and in hand stood at just over £34,000; and the net assets figure was £32,788. The company appeared to still be holding its own.

‘However, by the year ending August 31, 2013, on the plus side debtors had increased by about £20,000 but, on the downside, creditors had jumped up to a whopping £65,000 and the net assets of the company had halved to around £16,000. Yet there was still it had around £40,000 cash at bank and in hand. That downward trend continued through to August last year, by which time the company’s net assets had declined further, to just over £3,000.

‘Dartmouth and District Guide Ltd has always carried a healthy bank balance each year and, as of August 31, 2014, the last published accounts, cash at bank and in hand stood at £43,500, but creditors topped £70,000 and debtors were just under £12,000 – down £9,300 from the previous year.

‘My main query would be why are creditors so high?’

Asked whether at any stage during the company’s history the TIC has had to cope with insolvency, as claimed by Ms Johnson on the Crowdfunder website, the adviser said that claim did not seem to be borne out by the published accounts.

If the recent downward trend in the company’s balance sheet had been maintained through to the end of this August, the company could be heading for a deficit.

Throughout the period 2011-2015, both Angela Cairns-Sharp and Nigel Way have been directors. Roger Jordon was a director until September 2013. In October 2013, Christopher John Stuart Woodwark, of Farnham Common, near Slough, was appointed a director.

Mrs Cairns-Sharp, who has been involved with the TIC for 10 years, said this week that the centre’s latest accounts would be professionally prepared and filed by its accountant for Companies House. She said: ‘They will be available and commented upon, as always, at our annual brochure launch.

‘This is an event that we all look forward to each year, where we present to our subscribers and the mayor, on the TIC’s activities of the past year and our plans for the new year.’

But she did not comment on this current year’s state of finances at the TIC or how it has – in spite of apparently rising visitor numbers – found itself in such high debt to creditors.

But Mrs Cairns-Sharp added: ‘We would be happy to discuss things in more detail, including our official and accurate report on our finances, once our accounts have been professionally produced and filed and the crowdfunding trial, which has proved encouraging, is just one of many fundraising activities in place. In other words, business continues as normal for the TIC as previously stated. A full update will be available for all of our subscribers and invited press at the annual launch event.

‘Plans for 2016 will also be announced there, once next year’s budgets have been signed off and we are hoping to have exciting news regarding how the centre will develop.

‘We are currently launching our campaign for 2016 and look forward to continuing to work with our current subscribers and welcoming new ones, whilst we also continue, in an extremely busy season, to provide a vital service to the town’s wonderful visitors.’

Ms Johnson did not comment on the response to her crowdfunding appeal or how she now believes the TIC will move forward with fundraising.

The only comment on the Crowdfunder website came from Ray Bridges who said: ‘Dart­mouth’s TIC is very important to the town’s businesses, helpful to its visitors, and is especially important in unfolding its history. They have an original atmospheric engine that helped to start the Industrial Revolution and Thomas New­comen, a Dart­mouth man, invented it.’