A NEW centre where residents can access all council services under one roof opened in Malvern on Monday.

The Malvern Hills Customer Services Centre is part of a £1.5m refurbishment scheme for Malvern library.

Instead of visiting council departments in locations all over town, people can now pay their bills and get advice in just one place, in person or over the telephone.

Members of the public were already being served during Monday's opening ceremony.

Paul Cain, 45, of Matravers Road, was one of the first customers. He visited the one-stop-shop to get information on Council Tax and housing benefits.

"It's better down here because everybody comes to the library anyway.

"It's easier for me to get here than it was to walk to Portland House as there's a bus stop just out there," he said.

The project is the result of a partnership between Malvern Hills District Council and Worcestershire County Council and is known as the Worcester Hub.

Customer service advisers, recruited for their experience in dealing with the public, will attempt to handle 80 per cent of all enquiries from the public at the first point of contact.

At the opening ceremony MHDC chairman, Coun Don Pearce, said the centre's eventual aim was to deal with 100 per cent of enquiries.

MEP Liz Lynne, who officially opened the centre, said: "This is an exciting, innovative project that combines the benefits of modern service delivery with traditional customer service values," she said.