While many council services will be operating as normal throughout the Christmas period, there are services that will be unavailable during this time. Here is a handy round up of information and those services affected from the council, in their own words.
Christmas opening hours at Southampton City Council run venues |
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Customer Services and Gateway If you need to contact the council, the Customer Services phone lines are open:
On the last Friday before Christmas (22 December 2023), Customer Services phone lines will be open from 8.30am to 12 noon. We will be re-opening on Wednesday 27 December 2023 as usual. We will also be closed on Monday 1 January 2024 and re-opening on Tuesday 2 January 2024. Our Gateway office will open as follows:
Civic Centre reception will be closed from 12noon on 22 December 2023 until 2 January where regular opening hours will resume. General waste and recycling collections General waste and recycling collections will be unchanged until Monday 25 December. The normal household waste and recycling collection schedule resumes on Monday 22 January 2024. There will be no collections on Monday 25 December and Tuesday 26 December. Please see below for your revised collection dates. You can also check our online bin collection calendar.
Garden waste and bulk waste collections Garden waste collections will be suspended the week commencing Monday 25 December 2023 and will start again on Monday 8 January 2024. Requests for larger bins will not be processed between Monday 25 December 2023 and Monday 8 January 2024. Bulky waste collections will continue as normal. Household Waste and Recycling Centre The Household Waste and Recycling Centre is open 7 days a week (closed 12.30-1pm), except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day when the site is closed. The HWRC at City Depot will reopen on Monday 2 January. Christmas trees We are unable to collect real Christmas trees with kerbside general waste collections, so please ensure you dispose of your Christmas tree responsibly. Existing Garden Waste customers must cut up their trees into small pieces and place these inside their brown-lidded bins. Residents who do not subscribe to the garden waste service are encouraged to take these trees to recycling centres and dispose of them, or add them to their own home compost system. Libraries All council libraries will be closed for Christmas from Sunday 24 December and will reopen on Thursday 28 December. They will be closed for New Year from Sunday 31 December and will reopen on Tuesday 2 January. All community operated libraries will be closed throughout the Christmas and New Year period. Be sure to check the opening hours of your local library before visiting. Museums and Art Gallery
Southampton Register Office Opening hours – by appointment only
To book a birth or death appointment, please book online by visiting register a birth or register a death. Any death enquiries, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or for any other query, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Housing Benefit payments Housing Benefit payments for the 2023 Christmas and New Year period are detailed below. If you receive your payment by cheque, please allow extra time for any postal delays. Normal payment cycle will resume week commencing 1 January 2024. Weekly paymentsPayments sent 19 December 2023 will arrive in accounts by 21 December 2023 Payments sent 21 December 2023 will arrive in accounts by 27 December 2023 Fortnightly payments Payments sent 19 December 2023 will arrive in accounts by 21 December 2023 Monthly payments No Monthly payment run is due. Urgent paymentsNo Urgent payment runs over Christmas. Council tenant paymentsWill run as normal and show in accounts by 25 December 2023 and 1 January 2024 Support for Council Tenants Local Housing Offices are closed for Christmas from midday on Friday 22 December 2023 until Wednesday 27 December 2023. Offices are also closed on New Year’s Day, Monday 1 January 2024. Normal hours will resume from Tuesday 2 January 2024. If you need to contact us while we are closed you can report repairs online, or call our out of hours service on 023 8023 3344. Gritting and snow clearance From November through to the end of March we provide the winter maintenance service for the city which includes pre-salting to help prevent ice forming and post-salting to melt ice and snow that has already formed. Priority one routes are treated as routine pre-salting, in advance of any forecast of frost, ice or snow. We monitor daily weather forecasts and road conditions to enable us to decide when precautionary salting or other treatment is required and can react quickly to extreme weather conditions. Find out more on our gritting pages about road gritting and requesting a gritting bin to be re-filled. For up to date information follow our highways service on Twitter at @scchighways Crematorium and cemeteries
The office at the crematorium will be open until 12noon on Friday 22 December 2023 and will reopen at 9am on Wednesday 27 December 2023. The office will also be closed on Monday 1 January 2024 and will reopen at 9am on Tuesday 2 January 2024. |