Citizens Advice unveils new base at Ringwood library for 'highly valued' help

A VITAL advice service has unveiled its new Ringwood base after teaming up with the town’s library.

Citizens Advice moved into the Christchurch Road facility after it was handed a £17,000 grant from the county council’s Hampshire Library Service. The collaboration features a customer help desk, which will be shared by library staff, IT services and innovative spaces.

New Forest West MP Sir Desmond Swayne and county and district councillors were on hand to help Citizens Advice officially open the office and were impressed by what they saw.

Cllr Seán Woodward, HCC’s cabinet member for recreation and heritage, said: “Working in this way enables the library to offer a range of highly valued community services for free, all under one roof – books, learning, IT, activities, and now advice on important issues such as well-being and debt.

“Ringwood Library is the latest example of how the service is joining forces with Citizens Advice. We hope to establish further collaborations in the future with them and similar partner organisations to benefit residents across the county.

“This approach will help make our libraries true community hubs at the heart of local neighbourhoods, helping Hampshire residents continue to thrive.”

In the New Forest it has branches in New Milton, Lymington and Hythe, and in Ringwood was formerly based at Fridays Cross before it shut last year amid a review into how it ran its services and reductions in funding.

The move was helped by generous donations from local organisations, including the Russell Trust, Ringwood & District Older Peoples Welfare Association, the Rotary Club, town council, Ellingham & Ringwood Agricultural Society and the local Waitrose store.

Glynne Miles, vice-chairman of Citizens Advice New Forest, praised its Ringwood office manager Jim Sanders and a team of volunteers for working hard to get the new premises ready.

“They have done a brilliant job and it is great that they now have this improved environment to deliver our vital services,” he said.

“It’s very important too for our clients. It can take a lot of courage for clients to make the first step to seek out our services, and we hope that by offering them such a comfortable, pleasant environment, we can encourage them to talk to us before they reach crisis point.”