Council offices and customer services  

The council’s offices in Workington, Maryport, Cockermouth and Keswick will remain closed for face-to-face customer contact over the Christmas period. The Wigton office in the Market Hall, which has been operating on an appointment-only basis recently, will close at 5pm on December 23 and not reopen until January 4, 2021.

The customer services team will be available on the phone and via the webchat function on the website until 12pm on December 24. From then the service will be closed until January 4, 2021.

Residents can continue to report issues such as dog fouling, littering and fly-tipping through the council's website at https://www.allerdale.gov.uk/en/report/ and the 'myAllerdale' mobile app.

Customers can also use the website to check their eligibility for housing and council tax benefits, make an application, as well as access their benefit and council tax account. This service is also available for landlords with tenants on housing benefit. 

Payments can also be made online or via the council’s automated payment line 0303 123 1702.

The council can be contacted in an emergency situation, such as for homelessness assistance, on 0303 123 1702. If there is a threat to life residents should ring 999.  

Waste and recycling services  

Collections will take place on the normal day for most households in Allerdale over the Christmas and New Year period. Those due collections between Mondays and Thursdays will not need to alter the day they put their bins out. Residents are asked to have their bins out before 7am on the day of collection. 

Those households who are due collections on Fridays will see some changes. Collections normally scheduled on Friday, December 25 (Christmas Day) will take place two days later, on Sunday, December 27 and collections on New Year’s Day (Friday, January 1) will take place one day later, on Saturday, January 2.  

The normal collection schedule will resume from Monday, January 4. 

Householders can check when their collections are on the council’s website at https://www.allerdale.gov.uk/en/bincollections/ or on the myAllerdale mobile app where they can also report a missed collection. The council's brings sites will be available for any extra recycling and paper and card.  

To ensure Christmas trees are usefully recycled then residents are advised to cut it and store it in their garden bin until collections restart or take it to a HWRC. If you are unable to do this then any tree placed next to a household waste bin will be collected.  

Markets  

There will be changes to the council’s markets in Workington, Wigton and Keswick over the Christmas period.  

Keswick Market will run as normal on December 24, December 31 and January 2 but will not run on December 26. 

Workington’s market will run as normal on Wednesday, December 23 but will not run on December 26 or December 30. The market will return on Wednesday, January 6. 

The last market of 2020 in Wigton will take place on Friday, December 18 and it will return on January 8.  

 
Bereavement services  

The council’s Bereavement Services team will be available on the normal working days in between Christmas and New Year, excluding the bank holidays. To contact the team during this period email bereavement.services@allerdale.gov.uk or call 01900 702620. 

Leisure centres  

Our leisure centres in Cockermouth, Maryport, and Workington will be open over the Christmas and New Year period. Customers are asked to book activities via the Better app and keep up with the latest information via the GLL website: https://www.better.org.uk/leisure-centre/allerdale. 

The gym at the leisure centre in Keswick is due to open on January 2, 2021. Customers with memberships for Keswick leisure centre can use all other GLL leisure centres in Allerdale as well as those in other areas such as in Penrith and Carlisle.