COUNCILLORS in Callington are hoping that a proposal to re-site Cornwall Council's 'one stop shop' to an edge of town location will be shelved, after it met with local opposition.

Cornwall Council is looking at relocating one-stop shops across the county into libraries and its other buildings to make savings. But taking the facility away from a 'highly visible' position in Callington Town Hall would be detrimental, say town and parish councillors.

One-stop shops were set up after district councils were abolished and the authority became unitary in 2009 — they became the public interface of the council and promoted 'localism'. High footfalls are reported, especially in Callington where the site is well served by bus routes and car parks.

Callington portreeve Karen Gold said this week that meetings had been held with officers from Cornwall Council where she and Cornwall councillor for Callington Andrew Long had put a strong case to keep the facility where it was.

'We will fight all the way to keep it in the town hall,' she said. 'It works really well alongside the town clerk's office and the library is totally unsuitable as it is on the college site and used by school pupils as well as the public.

'The one-stop shop staff sometimes deal with some very difficult and distraught people and it is just not appropriate to have kids around.'

She said a large amount of money had been spent in making alterations to the town hall to accommodate the one-stop shop, so if it moved, that money would have been wasted.

Members of Calstock Parish Council also raised objections to the proposal at a meeting this week. They said the library was on the outskirts of town and poorly served by public amenities, making it especially difficult for senior citizens and the disabled to access.

'As a result, the number of enquiries handled by the one-stop shop will decrease,' said Cllr Dougal McLachlan. 'In turn this might lead to a further premises review and might result in the service again being relocated to Saltash or Liskeard.'

Cllr Dick Hoile said one-stop shops were to compensate for the loss of district councils and were already being devalued after just 18 months.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said the consultation was still ongoing and no decisions had yet been taken.