PETERSFIELD’S job centre will close its doors for the final time next month, the Post can reveal.
The JobCentre Plus office in Chapel Street will be vacated by the service on September 8 and after that date people seeking the services it offers will have to travel to Havant instead.
The Post first reported in January this year that the job centre in Petersfield was to close as part of plans put in place by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for offices across the country to close or be merged with other public sector services to bring about savings worth £180m.
At the time it was confirmed that the Petersfield site would close by the end of March 2018 but now the closure programme has been firmed up, the Chapel Street office will close six months before that date.
A spokesman for the DWP, when confirming the closure date for the Petersfield site, said the services currently offered in Chapel Street will be fully up and running at the Havant centre in Elmleigh Road from September 11.
The statement continued: “Petersfield JobCentre is becoming increasingly underused, particularly as more of our services are offered online.
“Merging the JobCentre with our site in Havant means we can continue to provide a first-rate level of service to our claimants.”
The aim of the DWP’s plans revealed in January is to reduce the underutilisation of some of the buildings the JobCentre service currently uses and save money.
The changes are also intended to provide a better service for jobseekers.
What will happen next to the JobCentre Plus site in Petersfield has already been determined by a planning application which was approved for the building by the district council’s planning committee last month.
The building’s owner, Webber Holdings, has successfully gained permission to convert the premises into three shop units on the ground floor, with six flats following the conversion of the floors above.
The approved plans will also see a path which runs from the Swan Street car park to Chapel Street, along the side of The Drum pub, enhanced as a route into the town centre.