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• Bristol City Council3
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• Help @symes2
• Rubbish & recycling2

Bristol City Council

• Bristol City Council Assistance & Guides Following CSP’s closure

  Click HERE to open Bristol City Council's easily accessible assistance and guides. Within this document, you will find guides on how to:

  1. Contact Bristol City Council
  2. Apply for Housing Benefit / Council Tax Reduction
  3. Provide evidence in support of a claim using a computer
  4. Provide evidence in support of a claim using a smartphone or a tablet
  5. Manage your Housing Benefit online
  6. Pay online - Council bills, fines and invoices; Direct Debit for Council Tax and Rent
  7. Manage your Rent Account online
  8. Request a new or replacement payment card
  9. Report a repair online
  10. Manage your Council Tax online
  11. Other ways to pay - Hartcliffe, Fishponds, Southmead and Ridingleaze

• How do I contact Bristol City Council?

  • Many of Bristol City Council's services are available online at bristol.gov.uk and you can register for a Bristol Account allowing you to access information about the services you use, for example viewing your rent balance or see how your housing benefit is worked out.
  • Please see contact details below: (Click links for online services, otherwise call number stated) -

   

  • Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction - make a claim, report a change in circumstances, manage your claim online or call 0117 922 2300

   

  • Council Tax - pay your bill, tell Bristol City Council you're moving, discounts and exemptions or call 0117 922 2900

   

  • Waste and Environmental Services - report missed collection, report street issues, order bins, recycling information, bulky waste collection or call 0117 922 2100

   

  • Council Housing - pay your rent, report repairs, make tenancy changes, order keys, report a problem in a communal area or call 0117 922 2200

   

  • Home Choice Bristol - apply for council or housing association properties information about priority and bands or call 0117 922 2400

   

  • Housing Advice - find out what help you can receive if you're homeless, or think you might be in the future or call 0117 352 6800

   

  • Residents Parking, Blue Badges & Travel Cards - residents parking, disabled parking & concessionary travel or call 0117 922 2600

   

• Why were the Customer Service Points closed?

  On 13th October 2016 Bristol City Council opened a public consultation on its draft Corporate Strategy and budget savings proposals to close a funding gap of £100m+ over the coming 5 years. Part of the proposals included the closure of the outer Citizen Service Points in Hartcliffe, Fishponds, Southmead and Ridingleaze (Lawrence Weston).

  • When was this decided?
  • The consultation closed on 5th January 2017 and the budget proposals were passed over for consideration by Cabinet.
  • At the Full Council meeting on 21st February the main budget recommendations were approved without any amendments. Two weeks later it was decided that the closure date for the CSP's would be 31st March 2017.
  • What do I do now?
  • The remaining Citizen Service Point is at 100 Temple Street in the city centre, near Temple Meads train station. However, many of Bristol City Council's services are available online, such as paying bills or rent, and providing evidence for benefit claims. There are still phone lines into the contact centre where the majority of service enquiries can be answered.

  An alternative to Scancoin machines for council tenants paying rent in cash is to use a yellow payment card at Post Offices or shops where PayPoint is accepted.

Community transport

• How can I book to travel on the CATT Bus?

  You can call into the office in the @symes Community Building or you can contact the CATT team on 0117 3773451. You can find more information about CATT here.

Health & wellbeing

• How can I get support with drug and alcohol issues?

  Hawkspring give 1-2-1 support for drug and alcohol issues. They can be contacted on 0117 9642859 Monday – Friday. They are based in the @symes Building next door to Greggs.

Help @symes

• When are the Family Law advice people in the building?

  The Family Law are in the @symes Building 12.30-14.30 every Thursday.

• My Nan is feeling isolated and needs to get out more, are there any groups she could attend?

  On a Thursday's (10.00 am – 13.00 pm) there is a group called Needles Knitting, just come along and join in, it’s a great place to meet new friends and also do some knitting.

Rubbish & recycling

• Where can I get waste bags for my recycling box?

  You can collect waste bags from the Library in the @symes Building, the Library is open every day but it is closed all day on Tuesday.

• How can I get my rubbish collected if the bin men missed it?

  You can call the Council 0117 9222000 or report on Bristol City Council's website: https://www.bristol.gov.uk/bins-recycling/missed-bin-collection