Registration offices to close
A review of the registration service by Somerset County Council has led to a decision to close the registration offices at Wincanton and Wellington. The Registration Service is a statutory duty that the County Council performs in line with an agreement with central government. It is responsible for registering our births marriages and deaths and in Somerset it does this through 12 Registration Offices armed with 70 staff. Inevitably the service was asked to come up with savings – a total of £105,000- this year.
For the moment the other registration offices will remain open including those at Yeovil, Bridgwater and Taunton. However the service in Mendip is under review. The County Council considered that as currently constituted the service does not provide sufficient access for customers in the Street/Glastonbury corridor. A review is going on to look at how this could be done better. One possibility being actively considered is relocating the current service from Wells to this area as well as reducing the opening hours in the Shepton location.
That decision has not yet been taken – but watch this space.