Have your say on the future of council services at Watling House in Dunstable

A consultation on the future of council services provided at Dunstable’s Watling House is not about telling residents it’s closed, “you’ve had it”.

It’s about offering better alternatives, a senior councillor told a Central Bedfordshire Council committee.

The occasional use of the building by council officers over the last few years has left most of it empty, the Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee was told yesterday (Thursday, June 23).

Gavin Coombs, head of facilities management, said: “We want to make the best use of our resources and ultimately public money.

“We are proposing to not restart or carry out in-person meetings at Watling House, but to provide them from other public buildings in the local area.

“For example, Dunstable Central Library, the Grove Theatre and the new Integrated Health and Care Hub,” he said.

Independent councillor Tracey Wye (Potton) asked if the consultation was saying that services will be available periodically in other buildings.

“If you need to speak to the children services, you know they’re going to be at that building on Mondays, is that what the proposal is,” she asked.

Councillor Eugene Ghent, (Conservative, Dunstable Watling Ward), the executive member for assets and housing, said: “It’s not that we’re telling the public that Watling House is closing next Monday, you’ve had it, you can’t go, you can’t speak to anybody.

“The last two years have seen a dramatic shift and change in how people work with us and how we work with them.

“I want to get away from this image that ‘oh, you can only see a Children’s Service person on a Tuesday or Thursday on the fourth week of the month’, that isn’t the case. We’ll offer better solutions, more alternatives,” he said.

Councillor Ghent also pointed out that Watling House is on the outskirts of Dunstable, and under the proposals residents will be able to access council services in the town centre.

“It’s probably, in fact I know it is, 2.4 miles from the town centre because I actually clocked it in my car the other day,” he said.

Councillor David McVicar (Conservative, Dunstable Icknield Ward) suggested that councillor Ghent had his car checked.

“The thing is when you stop something it sounds like you’re taking it away, ” councillor Ghent said.

“I don’t want this discussion to be focused on the negative, I want the discussion to be open-minded rather than close-minded,” he said.

Mr Coombs added: “We will also be undertaking some in-person engagement events to try to capture everybody’s opinions.”

> The proposal, based on the current market conditions, is to not re-open Watling House or carry out in-person appointments there. The consultation, which is a questionnaire to gather feedback from those who might be affected by any proposed changes, offers a series of alternative locations if an in-person meeting is required. These include places like the Dunstable leisure centre and library and the Grove Theatre.

The consultation, which launched this week, can be filled out online and will be open for eight weeks until August 22.. People can pick up paper copies of the consultation at Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Leighton Buzzard libraries.