To help fill the £11m+ deficit in the Isle of Wight council’s budget, we’re informed today that changes to the opening times of help centres around the Island will make a small contribution towards helping to cut costs.
Dave Burbage, who is Strategic Director of Resources at the council, said that during the council’s review of the help centres, they found that most of the weekend enquiries taken to Newport and Ryde Help centres could have been dealt with on the phone or online, and that the service at those sites was hugely under used at the weekend.
Saturday service cut
Given that, from the beginning of next month, the help centres at Ryde Library and at County Hall in Newport will no longer operate on a Saturday.
Other changes across the Island include Freshwater help centre open on Tuesdays and Fridays only and Wootton help centre open between 9.15-1pm on Mondays and Fridays.
Phone service available on Saturday
The telephone service provided by the council’s call centre will continue on Saturday’s between 9am – 1pm. You can call them on (01983) 821000.
Dave Burbage added, “Customers no longer need to walk into a council help centre and report a pothole or pay council tax for example, these and many other tasks can be done within a few minutes from your own home.”
Check the the council website for details of all help centre opening times.
Image: Justin Marty under CC BY 2.0
