DUDLEY borough residents are reminded that the council's customer service centre's opening hours will change from next month.

From Monday June 2 Dudley Council Plus in Castle Street, Dudley will be open from 8am until 6pm on weekdays and from 9am until noon on Saturdays.

The centre had previously opened until 7.30pm on weekdays but due to the lower volume of visitors and telephone calls received in the evening the centre will now close from 6pm.

This change follows a review of how the centre operates and will ensure that more staff are available to help the public when the centre is at its busiest.

Councillor David Caunt, leader of Dudley Council, said: "More and more people are using Dudley Council Plus for the wide range of services it offers.

"We are making this change because we want to ensure that during the busiest times, which are between 8am and 6pm, we offer the most effective and efficient service possible.

"Meanwhile people can access council services and make contact with us 24 hours a day through our website at www.dudley.gov.uk and through the successful Digi TV system."

Last year the centre answered nearly 450,000 phone calls, dealt with 150,000 visits and received over 100,00 payments.

Centre management expects these numbers to increase even further over the next year and want to ensure the best possible service is provided.

A wide variety of council services are now dealt with at Dudley Council Plus. These include payment facilities for all council services (and South Staffs Water bills), refuse enquiries (including removal of bulky items), recycling, problem reporting (e.g. pot holes, fly tipping, pest infestations, dog fouling), box office tickets/enquiries, all non-repairs Housing issues, booking appointments for registering births and deaths, and tourism enquiries.