Shipston's council office will close after appeal fails (From Cotswold Journal)

Shipston's council office will close after appeal fails

9:00am Saturday 17th October 2009

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SHIPSTON’S Telegraph Street council office will close following the failure of an appeal to save it.

Stratford District Council, which owns the office, now plans to transfer its services from there to Shipston Leisure Centre in early December.

Details of this new ‘one-stop shop’ service should be available within the next fortnight.

A meeting of the Conservative-controlled Council’s overview and scrutiny committee rejected the appeal by Shipston’s district councillor Richard Cheney and other members of the authority’s Liberal Democrat group opposed to the office’s closure.

The Council had announced it was closing the office because of lack of funds, having previously unveiled plans to convert it into a ‘one-stop shop’ where people could also access services offered by Warwickshire County Council and other organisations.

Shipston Town Council refused the District Council’s request to share the registrar’s office at the Town Council-owned Clark House in West Street.

Town councillors refused it because they believed they were being “held over a barrel - if they didn’t do it there wouldn’t be a service in Shipston”.

This week, Coun Cheney said the office served an area stretching from Little Compton to Stratford.

He said: “It will be very inconvenient for people who wish to go and talk to somebody because they’re going to have to go all the way to Stratford.

“The controlling Conservative group have treated the people of Shipston with very little regard for the needs of the community.”

He said he would support Shipston Community Interest Group’s offer to the District Council to run a ‘one-stop shop’ at the office.

Councillor Sue Wixey, District Council customer services portfolio holder, said she was saddened Shipston residents felt let down because the decision was not taken lightly and the authority examined various ways to keep the service.

She said: “We must, in this economic climate, be prudent with regard to the cost of services we provide for all residents of Stratford District.”

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