Bury Council has launched a consultation in relation to the proposed closure of the cash payment facilities at Prestwich Library.

The aim of the consultation exercise is to gain a broad view of opinions about the proposed closure. Research undertaken by Bury Council indicates that there has been a 70% decline in the number of people using this facility. In order to ensure that the council offers a value for money service it is proposed that this facility close and staff be redeployed to other customer focused services.

The council has identified that there are a number of local post offices and pay point facilities nearby in Prestwich Village, which can process the same transactions that currently take place in the cash office. Concern has also been expressed about individuals withdrawing large sums of cash from their account at a local post office only to take it to the cash office at the library. It is considered to be safer for all concerned if all these transactions took place under the same roof. If the cash office were to close, it would still be possible to make cheque and card payments at Prestwich Library.

The consultation is taking place throughout December and consultation forms are being handed out to users of Prestwich cash office; to users of the cash kiosk in Radcliffe and forms will be circulated to individuals who have signed up to receive emails from Prestwich Local Area Partnership (LAP). The consultation forms seek to find out more information about how many people use the service, any comments that they might have about the cash office facility and it also asks whether individuals would consider making payments via Direct Debit.

A short overview feedback will be given to the next meeting of the Prestwich Local Area Partnership meeting in January 2009

For more information please contact Ann Penn on 0161 253 7885.