CORNWALL Council is proposing to slash the budget for the maintenance of an East Cornwall beauty spot, recognised as one of the best green spaces in the country.

Kit Hill is East Cornwall's most dominate landscape feature, visited by 180,000 people each year.?It has won a number of awards including the Green Flag, and its winning credentials have long been recognised as a testament to the hard work of the countryside rangers.

Cornwall Council, which runs the nature reserve, said this week it was currently looking at restructuring the management of the countryside services area of its contracting arm Cormac Solutions Ltd and the maintenance work would continue to be delivered by its operational teams.

The proposals include cutting the budget from £70,000 to £25,000 annually and reducing the number of countryside rangers from eleven to six.

The figure was revealed by Cornwall councillor for Callington Andrew Long at a meeting of the town council last week.

He said he was very concerned by the cuts that were being proposed for parks, green spaces and beaches which would affect the county's tourism industry.

He said:?'Kit Hill is one of only two country parks in the county, the other at Tehidy may face a £35,000 reduction in its budget. Tourism accounts for almost a quarter of Cornwall's net income and we have to protect that.

'If we start to cut money from these frontline services it is going to have a knock-on effect on tourism.'

Chairman of the Kit Hill Management Committee and Cornwall councillor for Kelly Bray Jim Flashman, who lives on the hill, said: 'Kit Hill belongs to the people of Cornwall, Cornwall Council is just the custodian and has an obligation to the people of this county to keep it in pristine condition.

Kit Hill has a wealth of historical features, including mining and quarry workings dating from medieval times up to 1955.

'The cost of labour is minimal, it's the capital projects like the fences, roads, laybys and car parks that take the money and all of which are important,' said Mr Flashman.

'This is a World Heritage site and an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and I would not like to see any of that value lost. It's fine to put manual workers in there but by taking away the trained rangers, who do an awful lot of good work, much of the knowledge about the flora, fauna and the uniqueness of this hill is gone.'

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said: 'We are currently looking at restructuring the management of the countryside services area of Cormac Solutions Ltd.

These changes will not affect our management of countryside venues such as Kit Hill as the maintenance work will continue to be delivered by our operational teams.'

The decision on the proposal will be made by Cornwall Council at the end of this month.