THE closure of a tax office has been branded as "bad news" for a town. 

Last year the Valuation Office Agency announced it would be closing eight of its tax offices across England and Wales - including the Ulverston office - which will close next month. 

VOA is a part of HM Revenue and Customs which provides valuations and property advice for tax purposes like council tax banding.

Business owner Chris Nelson, a member of the management committee for Ulverston Business Alliance and also chairman of the Ulverston BID board, feels there are too many crucial services leaving Ulverston. 

He said: "I think it's sad to see this service departing the town. It's almost like they are denying local people vital services and this is always bad news. 

"The idea of the BID is to put more life into Ulverston and it just seems like other people are intent on taking it away. 

"For people who just want to make a quick inquiry it will now be something that takes a couple of hours because they will have to go to Lancaster - it's a nightmare." 

Ulverston town councillor Pat Jones, thinks that the closure is a "terrible" move. 

She said: "We are being decimated and we keep losing services, when is it going to end? 

"People who are worried about tax and their income are now going to have to go for miles to get to the Lancaster office. 

"I think they are trying to shut us down, I think we are going to become a tiny little village. We are having all these houses built but there won't be any services available to the people that move here."   

VOA has said that the Lancaster office is "flexible enough to accommodate additional people and work in the future". 

A spokesman for VOA said: "This is about changing the way we work; not about making redundancies. 

"Since we announced the closure of our Ulverston office in March 2015, we have worked closely with colleagues regarding their redeployment options. 

"These include home working, moving to another VOA office or taking up opportunities in the wider Civil Service. 

"We are taking every practical step to avoid job losses as a result of our location changes."