Cramlington Library and Northumberland County Council’s Customer Service Centre will be given a new home, following agreement by the council’s cabinet.

 

The move will see the Library, Registrars and Customer services, currently located at Concordia Leisure Centre, and the Contact Centre, currently located at Northumbria House relocate to the former Your Link building, on Forum Way.

 

The former Your Link building was originally designed for the Call Centre and the Library and with the inclusion of the Customer Service Centre and Registrars it will offer a much improved environment for the services.

 

Cllr Cath Homer, cabinet member for Culture, Arts, Leisure and Tourism at the council said: “We understand the limitations of the current locations and have responded with this detailed plan to relocate these key services.

 

“The move will see the services all moved under the same roof and the new building will offer an environment where the public will feel safe and secure when dealing with sensitive issues such as bereavement or financial issues. Our staff also need to be in a space where they can handle and discuss issues without being compromised.

 

“The former Your Link building, which is close to the current location, will offer a much improved environment for all.” 

 

Refurbishment work will now hopefully start in June at a cost of £249,000 with services open to the public in the autumn. 

 

Cramlington Town Council is also planning to move into the ground floor of the building once work is complete.

 

Cllr Mark Swinburn, county councillor for Cramlington village said: “I am delighted that residents will now get both a better and expanded library service that a town the size of Cramlington deserves, but also centralised and improved council service provision which will help meet resident needs.

 

“This shows that we have listened carefully and responded to our residents’ concerns raised, and again responded to them.

 

“There has been a great deal of hard work involved by a number of people in order for these improvements to take place, and I would like to thank all of those involved in this combined effort.”