A ONE-STOP-SHOP in the historic Arts and Crafts Centre would stop Bury people being shunted from "pillar to post".

Bury wants to spend half a million pounds creating a service which would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for all sorts of enquiries.

Similar facilities could be set up locations in the borough's outlying towns, all linked through new technology.

Residents would be able to get answers to problems concerning the council, health services, voluntary groups and college courses.

They might be able to log onto bulletin boards on the Internet and have a coffee while their children are in the creche.

While a location has not been finalised, local authority bosses say their favourite is the Arts and Crafts Centre in Broad Street. The project is seen as one way of securing the long-term future of the building which has been threatened with council cuts for years. To pay for the centre, council bosses are seeking three-quarters of the money from the Government's Invest To Save Budget.

The bid was warmly welcomed by councillors at Tuesday's (July 27) executive committee meeting, although Tory group leader Coun David Higgin was not so keen on the location: he preferred a fresh start in a new building.

"I am very happy with this and it's about time we got it off the ground," he said. "But I would much prefer the Arts and Crafts Centre to be developed as such, and used for the promotion of arts and crafts in our town."

Labour leader Coun Derek Boden said that there were no plans to use the whole of the centre, which he described as an important listed building, for this new service. A package of complementary activities would have to be prepared.

Mr Sandy Paterson, director of personal and community services, described the arts centre as an asset but also a liability which badly needed investment.

He told members that the inquiry centre's location was not yet definitely fixed, and it would have to go elsewhere if there were serious problems with disabled access, but said the council needed a starting point.

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