Changes to Lancaster City Council services and facilities this Christmas do not affect waste and recycling collections

Council offices will close at 3pm on Christmas Eve and re-open at 9am on Wednesday, December 29. They will then close at 3pm on New Year’s Eve and re-open at 9am on January 4.

The Lancaster District Community Hub will remain open to provide additional support for residents from 10am–3pm on December 27, 28 and January 2, 3.

Regular waste and recycling collections will not be affected this year. If in doubt you can find your calendars or check your collection days hereThere will be no changes to commercial waste and recycling collection service over the Christmas and New Year period apart from those who receive Saturday collections. Waste due to be collected on Christmas Day and New Year’s day will be collected Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

For large or bulky household items, residents should call customer services to arrange a collection, telephone 01524 582491. For more information on Bulky Matters collection service, visit hereAlternatively you can call upon recycling and reuse charity Freegle which offers a free internet-based service where people can give away and ask for things that would otherwise be thrown away – visit here for more information. Don’t throw it away, give it away.

As a result of Government advice relating to the Omicron Covid variant and the rise in infection rates locally, the programme of face to face mobile customer service events will discontinue as from next week until further notice. The last event will be at St Nicolas Arcade in Lancaster this Saturday, (December 18) from 10am – 3pm.

Anyone wishing to contact customer services can call 01524 582000 or email [email protected] and an adviser will be on hand to deal with all enquiries.

For information on all council services and to report issues online, visit here

Festive opening times for the Charter Market and Assembly Rooms Emporium in Lancaster and Festival Market in Morecambe can be found at hereSalt Ayre Leisure Centre will close for Christmas at noon on Christmas Eve and reopen at 6am on Wednesday, December 29. The centre will close for New Year at noon on New Year’s Eve and re-open at 6am on Tuesday, January 4.

For more information on timetables, visit hereChristmas wouldn’t be Christmas without larger than normal supplies of batteries, so the council is urging everyone this year to use the bins provided for used batteries at most major supermarkets in the area.

For a small donation to St John’s Hospice, you can have your real Christmas trees collected from your doorstep by hospice volunteers in the new year. For more information or to book yourself a collection, visit here or call 01524 382538 during office hours.

For more information and top tips for recycling as much as possible over the festive season, visit hereResidents in the Lancaster district who have subscribed to the council’s garden waste collection service are being reminded that collections will be suspended over the winter months in what is traditionally the quietest time for gardeners.

There will be no collections from Monday, December 13 until the service resumes on Monday, January 24 2022.

During this time, residents can either compost the green waste or dispose of it at a local recycling centre.

Anyone wanting to subscribe or re-subscribe to the receive the service from April 1 2022 will be able to do so from February.

More information on council services and to report issues online, visit here