12/09/2016 - Permalink

Residents’ views sought on changes to council’s customer service opening hours

Related topics: Community

Residents across Shropshire are being invited to give their views on proposals for changes to opening hours at Customer Service Points across the county.

The consultation, which runs from today (Monday 12 September 2016), will ask residents their thoughts on changes to hours at Shropshire Council’s Customer Service Points in Shrewsbury, Oswestry, Ludlow, Bridgnorth, Whitchurch* and Market Drayton.

Over the last few years the number of customers calling into these offices has reduced by more than half, but at the same time the opening hours have remained unchanged. Based on this pattern, the survey ask residents their views on the changes to hours at the following locations

  • Shrewsbury – opening hours from 42.5 per week to 37 hours per week
  • Oswestry – opening hours from 40 per week to 35 hours per week
  • Market Drayton – opening hours from 32.5 per week to 26 hours per week
  • Bridgnorth – opening hours from 40 per week to 30 hours per week
  • Ludlow – opening hours from 40 per week to 30 hours per week
  • The customer services at these locations would still operate five days a week, but with slightly reduced hours to align with demand
  • *Whitchurch – these opening hours (33 per week) will remain the same, but with Shropshire Council staff available on two days of the week, with the remaining days covered by town council staff.

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Michael Wood, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for corporate support, said:

“The way in which people access council services is changing, as more and more local residents are doing business with us online. This means we do not have as many people visiting us at our offices. Therefore, it makes sense for us in these austere times, to propose to reduce the hours at typically less busy times of day.

“However, we understand the importance of a local face-to-face service for many of our customers who may not be able to use alternative means of doing business, such as the telephone or online, or who may need help to use these alternatives.

“Our recommended option would be to keep the customer service point open five days a week, but with slightly reduced hours each day to match the local demand. People will still be able to go to our customer service point, even if unmanned, to access a phone and call us direct or use one of our computers.

“By reducing the opening hours of the facilities we hope that we can continue to keep all the facilities open, help protect jobs and still offer our customers an excellent service.

“I really encourage residents to look at what has been suggested and share their local on-the-ground knowledge to help us refine the proposals.”

Further information, including frequently-asked questions about the proposals, can be found online at shropshire.gov.uk/get-involved, search for “Customer service point opening hours review.”

Alternatively, residents who don’t have access to a computer, can also visit the relevant Customer Service Point to seek further information on how the service will operate, and complete a survey form.

Closing date for responses is Friday 7 October 2016.