READING Borough Council has laid out its opening times over the Christmas period.
The Civic Offices, in Bridge Street, as well as the call centre will both be closed to the public from 4pm on Tuesday, December 24.
Both will reopen at 9am on Thursday, January 2.
Residents can contact the emergency line via: 0118 9373 737
Brighter Futures for Children (BFfC), which provides children’s social care and services, will run a reduced service over Christmas, including closure on December 25-26 and January 1.
Urgent support outside office hours (which are 9am-5pm), at weekends or during closure, is available via: 0134 4351 999
On December 24, 27, 30, and 31 (open from 9 am to 5pm). is available via: 0118 9373747
Normal service resumes on January 2.
Family Information Service and the SEND Local Offer will be closed from 4pm on December 24, and will reopen on January 2.
The Housing and Homelessness Team will be operating an emergency-only duty service over Christmas to support residents who become homeless.
For emergency issues, messages can be left between 9am – 5pm on December 27, 30, and 31 via: 0118 937 2165.
Out of hours emergency services are available via: 0134 435 1999.
Officers will be regularly checking the messages and calling back those who require urgent assistance.
For housing repairs, the Housing Repairs and Maintenance service will be operating an emergency out-of-hours service for council housing properties from 4pm on December 24, until 9am on January 2, available via: 0118 9373 737.
For waste collection, the Recycling Centre on Island Road will be shut on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
Planned waste collection on December 23-24 will stay the same, while collections due on Christmas Day will move to December 27.
Those due on Boxing Day will move to December 28, and those due on December 27 will move to December 30.
Those due on December 31, January 1, and January 2 will be moved forward by two days, while collections due for January 3 will be moved to January 6.
Collections due from January 6-11 will be moved forward by one day, and return to normal service on Monday, January 13.
Garden waste collections will be subject to their usual two-week Christmas pause from December 20, with collections resuming to schedule on January 6.
Bulky waste collections will be paused from December 24 until January 6.
On December 24 Caversham, Palmer Park, Southcote, Tilehurst, and Whitley libraries are open 9am-noon and Central Library is open 10am to noon, while Battle library is closed.
All libraries will be closed from noon on December 24 until January 1 inclusive, reopening as normal from January 2.
All Library Drop Boxes, except Reading Central’s, will also close for this period–no items will be due back and no fines will be charged.
Full details for leisure centre closures are available via: reading.gov.uk/leisure/
Full details of closures of services and facilities during Christmas are available via: reading.gov.uk
