The council held a briefing session for councillors on Wednesday night, outlining plans for its 2011-12 draft budget, which included a proposal to axe its $266,000 funding package to Hunter Valley Wine Country Tourism, a plan that will sever an alliance forged more than 25 years ago.

The proposal has rocked tourism officials and councillors who agreed yesterday that the move would be to the detriment of one of the country’s leading tourist destinations and an embarrassment to Hunter tourism as a whole.

The news came less than 24 hours after Hunter Valley Wine Country Tourism and the Hunter Valley Vineyard Association announced plans to merge and embark on a joint marketing campaign.

It was a bittersweet celebration for both bodies, which struggled to comprehend the council’s proposal.

Hunter Valley Wine Country Tourism executive officer Dean Goddard said he was trying to take stock of the situation.

‘‘The board will be meeting shortly to formulate a response,’’ he said.

‘‘This is quite an extraordinary proposal for the second most visited regional tourist destination in NSW.

‘‘We will survive but this is a huge disappointment on the back of an historic day for our unified marketing campaign.’’ Greens councillors James Ryan and Chris Parker said they were shocked.

‘‘With an estimated 2.8million visitors a year and more than 1million of those staying overnight in the vineyards, wine and tourism are the economic lifeblood of Cessnock today,’’ Cr Ryan said.

Council general manager Lea Rosser said there had been no discussion around individual budget allocations.

‘‘There are no plans at this stage to consider the funding level to external associations.’’