From Friday, 12 April, public enquiries about a wider range of Swindon Borough Council services will be dealt with under one roof – the One-Stop-Shop, Swindon Direct, on Beckhampton Street.

The move comes with the closure of the council’s offices at Premier House, opposite the railway station, which will save nearly £1million a year from the council’s budget.

In total 350 staff are being transferred to Wat Tyler House, where the One-Stop-Shop is located, and are also being given the opportunity to work more flexibly. The council has rented Premier House for 13 years, since 1 April 1997.

Currently, around 2,000 visitors a month visit Premier House to enquire about 14 separate council services such as planning, building control, and taxi licensing.

The One-Stop-Shop, which currently deals with between 16,000 and 17,000 visitors a month, has been expanded and refurbished to handle the extra 2,000 visitors. The changes include a new entrance on Beckhampton Street with a new reception enquiry desk, the closure of the current main entrance on Princes Street to provide space for more customer service desks, better access for customers wishing to use PCs, and an area for the public to view planning applications.

The services moving to the One-Stop-Shop are:

• dog wardens
• food and hygiene
• taxi licensing
• building control
• planning
• land charges
• community hire
• student finance
• parks and open spaces
• trading standards
• noise complaints
• criminal complaints
• grants, and .....
• licensing.

The One-Stop-Shop already deals with enquiries about;

• housing needs including homelessness
• housing benefits
• council tax
• parking, and .....
• concessionary travel.

Wiltshire Police have also recently opened a police enquiry desk in the One-Stop-Shop.

All services will be transferred by Friday 12 April, although between Monday 15 March and Friday 9 April enquiries about dog wardens, community hire, and trading standards will continue to be dealt with at Premier House as the move is carried out.