20/12/2012 - Permalink

Christmas arrangements at Shropshire Council

Related topics: Community / Democracy / Health / Leisure, culture and heritage

The council will be closing its main administrative offices over the Christmas period – as it has done in previous years – to save money and reduce energy costs.

All essential services will continue, and the council’s customer service centre will be open to receive calls on the usual number of 0345 678 9000 on Christmas Eve (Monday 24 December 2012), Thursday 27 December 2012 and Friday 28 December 2012 between 9am and 5pm, for registration services and emergency calls.

The council’s headquarters Shirehall, and area headquarter buildings – The Guildhall in Shrewsbury, Corve Street in Ludlow, Westgate in Bridgnorth, Castle View in Oswestry, and Edinburgh House in Wem – will close at the end of the day on Friday 21 December 2012 and reopen as normal on Wednesday 2 January 2013.

Councillor Keith Barrow, Leader of Shropshire Council, said:

“It makes sense to close our main offices between Christmas and New Year because it costs a lot to keep the buildings running – for instance we saved about £10,000 last year from closing Shirehall alone.

“The council will still carry on providing its essential services over the Christmas period, and staff will be on call for emergency situations as normal.  The majority of staff tend to take leave at this time of year anyway, so it seems common sense to save money and reduce carbon emissions by closing our main offices.”

The Shropshire Registration Service will be closed on 25, 26 and 31 December 2012, but will operate on the following dates over the Christmas and New Year bank holiday period:

  • Monday, 24 December – Normal service, except Whitchurch registration service point closed.
  • Thursday, 27 December – Normal service
  • Friday, 28 December – Normal service, except Bishop’s Castle, Church Stretton and Whitchurch registration service points closed.

If you need to contact the service out of hours or during a notified closure period, in the event of an emergency, in particular in the circumstances highlighted below:

  • Emergency death registrations for those with particular cultural or religious beliefs – please contact your funeral director.
  • Registrar General’s Licence for Marriage or Civil Partnership (where one party is seriously ill and not expected to recover) – please contact your GP, Hospital Administrator or Chaplain.

Certificate applications received after 1pm on 21 December will not be processed until 2 January 2013 and will then be processed according to our usual target times. All gold service applications received after 1pm on 21 December but before 1pm on 2 January will be processed and dispatched on 2 January.

Bin collection days are also changing over the Christmas period.  Generally the changes mean that people’s waste will be collected one day later than usual, although some will take place earlier – calendars have been delivered to all households highlighting the changes and you can check by clicking this link.