Increased customer service support available in town centre

Local residents who need support with council services can now receive it via one central location in the town centre.

From Monday, 14 April Swindon Borough Council’s Customer Services provision is being moved to Swindon Central Library in Regent Circus and will be available Monday to Friday from 10am until 5pm.

Following resident feedback that Swindon Borough Council services could be more visible and easier to use, the Council has worked with local people to build on the existing support in Swindon’s largest library. 

New signage is being installed to advertise the services that the Council can provide at the newly-appointed access point in Central Library, while the Customer Services team will alter the way they work with residents to ensure the support they need is easily accessible.

By visiting Central Library, residents can speak to staff and receive face-to-face support from the Council’s Customer Services team, or use self-service machines to access blue badges, bus passes, waste and recycling services, requests for home repairs or managing parking fines and permits. These services, as well as others, are also available via the Council’s website.

As a result of this change, visitors to the Civic Offices reception, in Euclid Street, will now be able to self-service their arrival through a digital check-in. As staff previously based at the Civic Offices reception are now in Swindon Central Library, a new touch screen has been installed in the Civic Offices which visitors should use to sign themselves in to the building. This will send a notification to the person they are visiting informing them that the visitor has arrived.

Pearl, who will be moving to Swindon Central Library as a Customer Support Guide, said: “We are here to support residents access a wide array of Council services. While many of these can be accessed online, we know many people require extra support and guidance.

“Having worked with local people to improve our processes, we look forward to providing our customers with an overall improved experience should they need our help.”

Councillor Emma Bushell, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet member for Customer Services, said: “It is really important that the Council listens to the feedback of its residents. I’m pleased to see the improvements we have made based on the views of local people, as it reflects our commitment to listening to the feedback of our residents.

“We are committed to offering the very best experience for people who need our support and our committed team of customer service and library colleagues at Swindon Central Library and across other council-run libraries will continue to be here to help. By moving colleagues from the Civic Offices to the Central Library, our team will have more direct contact with residents while new sign-in screens will mean guests to the Civic Offices are unaffected by this change.

“We are encouraging residents to continue sharing their feedback with us, which will help us to build a better, fairer and greener Swindon.”

Residents can find out more about opening times, available support and contact information for Swindon Central Library on the Council’s website:

https://www.swindon.gov.uk/directory_record/17870/central_library