East Suffolk Council’s customer services, in Lowestoft, to relocate from Marina Centre to Lowestoft Library in £165,000 move

The £165,000 relocation of a council’s customer services in a Suffolk coastal town has been supported.

Yesterday evening, members of East Suffolk’s cabinet unanimously agreed to move its customer services away from the Marina Centre, at the heart of Lowestoft, where it has stood since 2009.

The service will now be moved into Lowestoft Library for £165,000, where it will stay for at least five years, with the opening hours now under review to reflect the operation of its new home.

The money will come from the service’s own reserves, raised through efficiencies made between 2019 and 2023.

Cllr Paul Ashton, the cabinet member overseeing the relocation, said the move was essential to ensure the delivery of the Cultural Quarter project — one of five projects made possible by the Government’s £24.9 million Town’s Deal allocation.

He added: “The relocation is driven entirely by the cultural quarter project, we wouldn’t do it unless we were enabling it.

“We’re not getting new anything at all, we’ll use all the equipment we have got. All of the cost is to do with the refit, the lease, and the licence.”

Cllr Ashton also said the relocation wasn’t included with the Cultural Quarter’s project initially due to concerns the service would need a major change as a result of Covid rules.

The team is set to vacate the Marina Centre by September and give way for the north wing of the building to be demolished in a bid to create more public, cultural, and commercial space, as well as a line of sight between the town centre and the port.