Update on Stratford District Council's offices in Shipston

Bemused that is how Stratford District Council's Customer Services Portfolio Holder, Councillor Sue Wixey, feels as a result of Shipston-on-Stour Town Council's recent decision to block the provision of a service access point at Clark House.

"I am hugely disappointed about this decision.   It means that Stratford District Council, whilst continuing to provide face to face services in Shipston, will now be able to do so only the basis of a much reduced presence in terms of our hours of opening.  Clark House would have enabled us to work from a town centre base, providing advice and information about county and district council services with an opening time of around 18 hours a week," says Cllr Sue Wixey, Customer Services Portfolio Holder.

"Given the current economic landscape it is more important than ever that public services are recognised as working together for the benefit of the local community.  We can no longer work in isolation, it is just not viable or feasible and it definitely doesnt make financial sense.

"This is a challenging time - budgets are stretched and we have to prioritise.  Our full time office at Shipston has on average been dealing with less than six people an hour.  It is simply not sustainable in its current form and we have to look at new ways of providing services.  Our preferred option is to provide a daily service, perhaps even opening for the first time on Saturday mornings, but in the absence of a suitable shared central base such as Clark House this will be impossible.  We can no longer justify operating on our own from Telegraph Street, but I would really like to be able to offer a service more in line with that we had in mind by sharing the Town Councils building."

In the absence of a suitable town centre base, the District Council's intention is that from December 2009 a service will be maintained from a community building in Shipston.  Similar arrangements operating in Bidford-on-Avon, Studley and Wellesbourne work on the basis of the Council's team being present once every three weeks.

• The decision made by Stratford District Council's Cabinet on the future of the Telegraph Street Offices is now subject to call-in and will go before the District Council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee A (date of meeting still to be confirmed).
• At the District Council's Cabinet on Monday 7 September it was Resolved:
  (1)  That the Council's preferred option for providing ongoing customer service access within Shipston on Stour be confirmed as involving a town centre service based at Clark House; and
  (2)  That in the absence of an agreed means of providing an alternative customer service point in the town centre, the current area office service be transferred with effect from 30 November 2009 on the basis that a Community One Stop Shop will operate in Shipston on Stour from December 2009.
• Cabinet decisions may be 'called-in' which allows a decision to be examined to make sure it is appropriate and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee is charged with ensuring this. If 3 members of the Council feel that the decision is inappropriate they can 'call the decision in' after it has been made to prevent the decision taking immediate effect.
  
  Having reviewed the decision the OS Committee may either request the Cabinet to reconsider the matter, decide that no further action be taken or refer the matter to full Council if it is major or has significant public interest.