The Fenland District Council Contact Centre celebrates its first anniversary as a major success story. Staff at the Centre have handled more than 180,000 inquiries since it opened officially on January 10, 2005. The 19 full-time equivalent staff have dram

The Fenland District Council Contact Centre celebrates its first anniversary as a major success story.

Staff at the Centre have handled more than 180,000 inquiries since it opened officially on January 10, 2005.

The 19 full-time equivalent staff have dramatically improved accessibility to council services and, working in conjunction with the Fenland @ Your Service shops in March, Chatteris, Whittlesey and Wisbech, council services have been transformed and public satisfaction levels are very high.

January is also the anniversary of the opening of the March and Whittlesey shops. The March shop has been extremely busy, with 51,000 visitors looking for advice or paying bills in the last year. The Whittlesey shop has looked after the needs of 33,000 visitors over the same period.

The Wisbech shop, which celebrates its anniversary next month, has been the busiest shop in Fenland, attracting 70,000 visitors. The Chatteris shop, which opened in May, has received 13,500 visitors.

Neither the Call Centre nor the shops are resting on their laurels, though. The Call Centre is always looking at ways of improving the advice and support its staff can offer and the shops have a number of initiatives in the pipeline.

Secure cheque points are being put up in all the shops in the near future so that customers do not have to queue to pay their bills. They will simply post their cheques into the metal post boxes inside each shop.

Boards highlighting the latest visitor figures, updated weekly and monthly, together with annual totals, will be put up in each of the four shops so that members of the public can see at a glance how many local people are using their local shop.

Councillor Jill Tuck, portfolio holder for Community First, said: "The call centre and the shops have worked wonders in helping local people gain greater access to council services and advice. This is a success story and one that we should all be proud of.