First baby to be registered at flagship council centre

Hull Council will register the first baby at its flagship customer service centre in Hull city centre today.

The birth of Ronnie David on January 4 at Hull Women and Children's Hospital, will be the first to be recorded at the Wilson Centre, which, from today, takes over from the Register Office based in George Street for the reporting of births or deaths.

The customer service centre offers more than 130 services in total, allowing visitors to tackle bill payments, official notifications, seek advice, apply for services and even buy tickets for events under the same roof.

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The city council's portfolio holder for customer and neighbourhood services, Coun Mike Ross, said: "While visitors are registering a birth or death they can also access other council services at the Wilson Centre. For example, if you register a death you can speak to an advisor about council tax, tenancy issues and benefits.

"If you are registering a birth then you can speak to someone regarding bus passes or paying your council house rent.

"It's all about bringing services together and resolving people's queries as quickly as possible in one place."

Dorothy Parker, superintendent registrar, said: "The Wilson Centre provides visitors with a comfortable dedicated area where they can register births and deaths. We are looking forward to registering the first baby on Monday, January 31."

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People still register for weddings and citizenship at the Register Office based at 181 - 191 George Street.

The three-storey building – which cost 6.7m including buying the freehold of the site – is part of a rationalisation programme which involves cutting the number of properties used by Hull Council and selling some off.

If the Liberal Democrat budget proposals go through, more libraries and customer service centres are expected to be co-located in so-called "Library Plus" facilities, some buildings being vacated.

The Wilson Centre, close to the Guildhall, is named after the famous Wilson Line, the world's largest privately-owned shipping company and is expected to be the busiest of Hull's nine customer service centres.

It will open from Monday to Friday, from 9am to 4.30pm, and Saturday from 9am to 12 noon.

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