Mansfield District Council address Civic Centre closure rumours

The building closed during the coronavirus pandemic, and comments on social media have claimed the site has not reopened due to it being ‘not fit for purpose, due again to the council failing to observe minimum standards’.

The centre opened up again this week with a system of pre-booked face-to-face appointments to enable social-distancing.

A small part of the centre remains closed, due to COVID-safe minimum requirements regarding air circulation systems, but essential business is unaffected as the building can accommodate this in other areas where air filtration systems are in place, the council confirmed.

A spokesperson for Mansfield District Council said: "The Civic Centre is not closed and is open for essential customer appointments in line with the Government’s guidance. This is the case for most local authorities.

"The council takes its responsibility as an employer very seriously and ensuring that all areas are COVID-secure is of paramount importance.

“We intend to encourage homeworking for the foreseeable future, to reduce the need for our officers to be in close daily contact.

"This will keep our services resilient and our staff safe and well so we can continue to deliver essential services.

“We are following the Government’s guidance in relation to council meetings.

"It is not the intention to hold face-to-face meetings of Full Council at present to ensure these guidelines are followed – public meetings and decisions are broadcast live via our Facebook page.”

Residents are asked to not visit the centre without an appointment and to still attempt to resolve their issue online as the first port of call.

James Biddlestone, Head of People and Transformation, said: "Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, we have encouraged customers to take a digital-first approach and we ask that this continues in future to keep our customers and officers safe and resilient.

"Online services have worked really well so far and we want to keep this going to meet our transformation objectives."

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