SOUTH Lakeland District Council (SLDC) will once again open the doors of its main offices to the public on Monday but only on a limited basis.

It closed the reception areas at its South Lakeland House base on Lowther Street, Kendal, in March, in line with government guidance.

But it will welcome the public again from next week, although only for prearranged or emergency enquiries and with reduced opening hours of 10am to 2pm.

An SLDC spokesman said: “In line with government guidance, the majority of our staff are still working remotely, so if you are considering calling into our offices from next week the likelihood is that the person you will end up speaking to will be over the phone anyway.

“The offices are reopening primarily for emergency homelessness enquiries or prearranged licensing appointments, which will be conducted observing social distancing rules.

“Most other services, including council tax, benefits and planning enquiries, will not be offered face-to-face at this time, so we would strongly encourage people to continue to use our responsive online or telephone channels instead of coming into the building.

“Like most businesses we will be starting to reopen our physical buildings from next week, but this will still be in a limited and carefully-managed way to ensure that our customers and staff are kept safe.

“Anyone who does visit South Lakeland House from next week will see screens have been installed in the reception area, along with floor markings for socially-distanced queuing and hand sanitiser units.’’

The public can submit service requests at southlakeland.gov.uk or call an SLDC customer services advisor on 01539 733 333.