Under the proposals, which have been recommended for approval at next Friday's full meeting of Scarborough Council, the centre's current manager Nick Butterworth, would be made redundant.

Both his job and that of the manager of Falsgrave Community Centre would be replaced by a single full-time post for a manager of both sites in what is described as a "staff restructure".

Filey 4Wards director Kath Wilkie, who works from an office at the Evron Centre, held a meeting with worried business tenants last week.

She said: "My concerns are for the Evron Centre and reduced services. This is supposed to be the flagship building for Scarborough Council in Filey.

"We know they've got to make budget cuts and I really don't envy them, but why Filey?

''At the moment, we just don't know how services will be continued.

"If the public come in and can't find something out through Customer First, very often they come in the back of the building to look for help. It's not going to be easy."

Mrs Wilkie said the best solution would be for the local authority to return the community and business centre to the management of Filey Town Council, whose predecessors owned it prior to the asset transfer of 1974.

Filey mayor Cllr Sam Cross said he would welcome such a move, adding that it was "extremely sad" that the town would be losing a good manager in Nick Butterworth.

He said: "The Evron Centre is our community centre and we need to work effectively for the people of Filey."

The borough councillor, who will be making the point at next week's meeting, added: "I'm a Filey town councillor first and I'm sure we could operate it effectively for the benefit of the community."

Brian Bennett, Scarborough Council's head of tourism and culture services, said the council was looking at a wide range of initiatives to increase efficiency and generate savings to contribute to the council's financial strategy.

"These include the centralisation of service functions and the joint management of facilities," he said.

"The joint management proposal involves one manager being responsible for two or more sites with adjustments to the remaining staff structures and changes to systems and procedures to ensure that services levels and operating hours are maintained.

"The proposal for the joint management of the Falsgrave and Evron centres also involves support for the manager from the specialist officers based at the Spa, particularly in relation to marketing and the entertainment programme at the Evron Centre.

"Further opportunities are being explored to centralise inquiry handling through the Spa sales team."