Date: 18/06/2009
High Peak Borough Council is to sell off its Chinley site and switch staff to a refurbished Buxton Town Hall.
The move is Stage One of a Customer First programme that would also see one-stop shops set up in Buxton and Glossop.
The decision to close the Chinley offices was taken by the Council's Executive on Thursday 18 June after councillors heard that the annual cost of running three sites was more than £340,000, on top of which the authority was facing a maintenance backlog bill of £1.2m.
An analysis of the three council office locations revealed that the Chinley office was costly to run and environmentally inefficient, while a Citizens' Panel survey in 2006 had found that customers considered the site to be in a poor location with inadequate reception facilities and public transport. In contrast, the representative panel had rated Buxton and Glossop highly.
Subject to extensive public consultation and discussions with potential partners, Stage Two of the programme would see the Council working with Derbyshire County Council and High Peak Community Housing to develop two modern one-stop shops offering a wide range of public services under one roof.
The emphasis would be on dealing with the customer's enquiry at first time of asking and offering Internet access to enable customers to self-serve if they wish.
Said Emily Thrane, Executive Councillor for Corporate Services: "The main aims of Customer First are to improve access to public services, work efficiently with our partners and reduce costs to our residents."