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

The aim of the paper based consultation exercise is to gain a broad view of opinions about the proposed closure. Bury Council claims there has been a 70% decline in the number of people using this facility. As a result they now propose to close this facility and for staff to be redeployed to other customer 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. 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; 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.

“The outcome of the consultation will be reported to the next meeting of the Prestwich LAP in January 2009. Make sure you have your say on this facility - If you use this service, if you think its important - make sure Bury Council know your views. Apathy will close this service and once closed we won’t get it back! Don’t forget to also let your councillors know your views on this.”

If you want to comment please complete the survey attached and post/hand in or better still email to the address on the form. cashoffice-consultation.pdf