People living in and around Ascot will soon have access for the first time to vital 'face to face' advice on their doorstep about council run community services.

The Royal Borough's ruling cabinet members agreed on Thursday to a change that will see a community experience team being established at Ascot library, enabling residents to get answers to queries on anything from Council Tax to missed bins. It will also allow them to pay bills and renew Advantage Cards and bus passes.

Registration services and information about housing benefits will be available too.

In the past Ascot people have had to travel to Windsor or Maidenhead to get this service - which was only available in standard office hours five days a week.

It is all part of a plan to merge the authority's customer service and library administration across the borough - libraries at Windsor and Maidenhead will also acquire customer service teams.

Cllr Samantha Rayner, the borough's lead member for culture and communities, said: “This is a very exciting project and a chance to provide more services closer to where residents live.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for people to get a quick answer to a question they may have about a bill or service and at the same time that they are using our fantastic library facilities.

"The aim is to create one-stop-shops that cover a wide range of resident’s needs and at times to suit all types of people. Our libraries have longer opening hours than the Town Hall, Maidenhead and York House Windsor currently do, so people can get customer service on council queries at times that previously they were not able to."

The council is keen to emphasise that this service will be provided in private rooms or areas ensuring privacy and not disrupting the usual service provided in the main area of the library.

The change will come into effect from July.

A second phase to come later will involve redesigning the existing telephone contact centre.