NEWS that Ledbury Town Council will pay over £5000 a year for a once a month Citizens Advice Bureau service has met with a mixed response from local residents.

The town council is picking up the tab because Herefordshire cut funding for Ledbury's CAB service almost two years ago.

The new service will be limited to just five interviews a month which, given that the town council will also provide £480 for room hire at the Ledbury Community Hall, means the cost of seeing each client will be more than £90.

But the money has already been allocated by the town council, and for town councillor, Tony Bradford, it is a case of the council stepping in and providing a much needed local service.

The CAB pulled out of Ledbury in May 2015, after Herefordshire Council cut the finding.

Cllr Bradford said of the new service: "I know it's a lot of money; but it's money well spent. Where can I start?

"If people are being made homeless, for example, where can they go for advice? The CAB service is essential for those who need it. There are people who are vulnerable and they need help.

"I believe other market towns are accommodating the CAB in this way. I need to be quite blunt. This is a necessity."

Outreach CAB services are already operating at Leominster and Ross, thanks to the funding from Leominster Town Council, Ross on Wye Town Council and Hereford City Council.

Cllr Bradford added: "I've been fighting for this service to come back to Ledbury.

"I cannot get my mind around Herefordshire Council not funding CAB."

No details have yet been given regarding dates and when the CAB will start to operate its outreach service from the Community Hall, Lawnside Road.

But some Ledbury people have already welcomed the news.

Resident Clare Turner, posting on the Voice of Ledbury social media site said: "The CAB do a fantastic job for people in dire straits: for people that cannot afford legal advice. I know of one instance when Hereford Council claimed that a tenant had been overpaid £1000 in housing benefits and that all benefits would stop until the debt had been repaid.Can you imagine what that would mean to someone on the breadline?

"The CAB intervened and asked for proof of this overpayment it turned out Hereford Council had made an error.Where else would that person have gone for help if CAB did not exist? To have them in back in Ledbury just one day a week would be tremendous."

But other comments on social media have been less positive.

Resident Jo Cooper said: "Surely the council has a remit to get best value from the budget. At around £91 per interview I don't call that value for money. These days anything the CAB can advise you about is available for free on the internet."

And resident Roger Baker said his mind boggled at the cost.

He said: "A subsidised taxi to Hereford for sixty may be a better bargain?"

The CAB has an office in Owen Street, Hereford, and also at Malvern.