A date has yet to be set for a decision on the future of a historic attraction.

In October, Essex County Council (ECC) announced plans to slash the opening hours at Cressing Temple Barns, with the visitor centre and tearoom earmarked for closure on weekdays, except during school holidays.

The visitor centre, which is currently open seven days a week from March to October, employs ten members of staff, both full-time and part-time.

Opponents claimed the move would result in the loss of both jobs and stature, and was an insult to the war dead, given the fact the site’s resurgence in the 1980s was largely down to funding from the National Heritage Memorial Fund – a fund set up to save at risk heritage sites in memorial to those who have given their lives for the UK.

ECC, which needs to find £215million of savings from its budget by 2017, has insisted it is committed to the site and the changes would in the main formalise the way it has been operated for a number of years.

A consultation on the plans finished earlier this month and feedback is being reviewed ahead of a final decision.

An ECC spokesman said that decision would be made in the New Year, but an exact date has not been set.