By Anna Whittaker, Local Democracy Reporter
Rushcliffe Borough Council is considering moving West Bridgford’s customer service centre to the town’s library after visitor numbers fell dramatically following the pandemic.
The council says there has been a decline in visitors to the customer service centre in Gordon Road but councillors also said it was important to keep a town centre presence.
The authority has worked with Inspire on the plans, which operates West Bridgford library for Nottinghamshire County Council. It said library services would not be affected.
Council documents state that visitor numbers were around 20,000 a year before the pandemic.
These have since fallen dramatically to 4,578 visits in 2022 and 3,780 in 2023.
The exploration of the move to West Bridgford library was approved at the cabinet meeting on February 13.
Cllr Jonathan Wheeler (Con) said the move would be made “as soon as possible”.
He said the change would enable residents to “access all customer service functions in one go”.
Costs at the current site exceed £55,000 a year, compared to other customer service centres at the Cotgrave Hub, East Leake Library and Bingham Medical Centre, which cost less than £5,000 a year to run.
Cllr Wheeler said: “It is a no-brainer for me in terms of exploring this move and there will be a financial saving as well.
He said: “A few years ago we had to move our customer service centre from the police station because they were knocking it down.
“We had to find a new site and at the time Gordon Road was struggling in terms of footfall and the mix of businesses there.
“We felt the move would not only help Gordon Road itself but make sure we had a presence in a prime West Bridgford location.
“We were aware that thousands of people were coming to our customer service centres on a weekly basis.
“With Covid that has changed in terms of how people engage with our customer services, people are using it more online and over the phone.
“We want to make sure we still have that physical presence because we know a lot of people like to come in person and there are sometimes sensitive discussions to be had.
“It will bring back into use a unit on Gordon Road for a business. Gordon Road is a whole different place now with some fantastic independent businesses, it is thriving.”
He said the authority had been talking to Nottinghamshire County Council about moving services into the library and staff had been consulted.
Cllr Upton said: “It makes perfect sense to me with very little risk and a cost saving.
“To have a customer service centre within a town centre library, what a great synergy of services.”
Cllr Neil Clarke, Leader of Rushcliffe Borough Council, said: “Having it in a library is a one-stop shop basically and will present a great savings subject to getting a tenant in the unit.”
Cllr Abby Brennan (Con) added: “This demonstrates how if we use our investments well, we can contribute to keeping our high streets and town centres vibrant.
“We know they have struggled since Covid so anything we can do that helps to tie in people to use facilities is a great thing.”
The exploration of the move to the library was unanimously approved by councillors.
Opening times would be similar to the existing Gordon Road hours, switched slightly in line with current library opening hours to be Mondays 9am to 5pm, Thursdays 9am to 5pm and Fridays 9am to 4.30pm.
