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Lincoln's City Hall Customer Makeover

City residents can soon look forward to a fresh faced and reinvigorated approach to customer services at City Hall.

The City of Lincoln Council is embarking on a journey to improve the ways it interacts with customers.   The first step will see residents enjoying a more modern and more welcoming reception area at City Hall.

Work will start on the first phase of renovations at City Hall on Monday 8^th February and will see the whole of the first floor reception area redecorated, providing a pleasant environment for anyone waiting to speak to an advisor.  The most visited areas within City Hall are the Housing and Benefits enquiry offices and they will be completely redesigned into a large open area where customers can access all the information and advice they need.

New interview rooms will also be created for pre-arranged appointments, making sure people are seen at a time that suits them, without having to wait in a queue.These rooms will be convenient and confidential, so that all matters can be discussed in privacy, with a dedicated advisor.  

The Property Shop currently located on Silver Street will move into City Hall as part of phase two of the plans.  This will make it easier for council tenants to find a solution to any housing problem under one roof and the sale of the old building will contribute towards the cost of the changes at City Hall. 

These changes underline the council’s renewed commitment to putting customers first, making sure they are provided with the best, most convenient service possible.  In addition the council will save money in the long term by bringing more services under one roof.

All of these transformations are outlined in the new Customer Access Strategy, where the council sets out how it will deal with customers in the future.  More convenient opening hours for City Hall and greater access to services through the web; are just some of the other areas that will come to fruition over the coming year.

Councillor Sandra Gratrick, Portfolio Holder for Customer Services at the City of Lincoln Council said: "These changes outline our ambitions for a modern and logical approach to how we deal with the 46,000 customers who we deal with face-to-face at City Hall each year.  We have set out a plan that we feel will make a lot of sense to residents.  The new hub for customer services will help our residents to access their services more easily. "

"In addition, consultation with the public has shown us that many more people want to use our website for other services, for example to pay their Council Tax bills.  So, we have responded and are developing inline with residents’ wishes too.  Overall, it is hoped that these changes will significantly increase the quality of service that we provide customers and if we can reduce the 300,000 phone calls we receive to contact centre it will make us more efficient and save us money in the long term too."

City Hall will be open for business as usual throughout the work, which is being completed in two stages.  The first stage is scheduled to be complete by the end of March 2010.

Article Published: 08/02/2010

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