Your Council services over the holidays

Hundreds of Council employees will be busy over the Christmas and New Year holidays keeping vital services going for local people.

They will be caring for older and vulnerable people, running children’s homes and gritting the roads to keep travellers safe.

Others will be on standby in case they are needed to deal with emergencies such as collapsing buildings or serious problems on the roads.

All Council offices, customer service centres, civic centres, libraries, pools and leisure centres will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day but even on those days emergencies will be covered.

If you need emergency help with homelessness, the care of children or older people, for example, or you need to report an emergency on the roads such as a serious flood, you can call the Council’s Contact Centre on 0845 121 2975.

For emergency repairs to Council houses, such as burst pipes or loss or power or heating, the number to call is 0845 076 3636.

Please remember that these numbers are for emergencies only; routine work will be dealt with after the holidays.

The emergency contact centres operate every night and weekend as well as during the holidays.

Details of Council Service opening hours:

Touchstones Rochdale – home of the borough’s museum, art galleries and Tourist Information Centre – will be closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Hollingworth Lake Visitor Centre will be closed on Christmas Day but open from 11am to 4pm every other day of the holidays.

Hollingworth Lake Water Activity Centre will be closed from Wednesday 20 December until Wednesday 3 January 2007.

Libraries will be open normal hours on Saturday 23 and Saturday 30 December but closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day, with normal opening on 27 to 29 Dec.

Belfield Library will close at 12.30pm on Saturday 23 December and re-open on Thursday 4 January 2007. 

Heywood Library will remain closed for essential roof repairs for approx 2 weeks.

Heywood Civic Centre - Closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Open 27, 28, 29 and 30 December and for Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve events.

Middleton Civic Centre - Closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day, 30 December and 1 and 2 January 2007. Open 27, 28 and 29 December and for Christmas Eve for Pantomime and New Year’s Eve event.

Central Leisure Centre, Furrow Sports Centre, Heywood Sports Complex, Littleborough Sports Centre, Middleton Leisure Centre and Springhill Sports Centre will all close at 1pm on Sunday 24 December and re-open as normal on Tuesday 2 January 2007.

There will be no recycling /refuse collection service on Boxing Day or 27 and 28 December but there will be collections on 2, 3 and 4 January.  Alternate weekly collection services will operate as normal on Friday 29 December.

Recycling collections will resume on 2 January and garden waste collections on 16 January.

For further information on waste/recycling services – including recycling your Christmas tree and seasonal rubbish, please call the helpline on 0845 226 1800.