New areas of South Glos to benefit from free advice drop-in – while Thornbury will add a second session
- Citizens Advice South Gloucestershire is delighted to be adding a new free regular advice session for Westerleigh & Coalpit Heath and Frampton Cotterell residents
- It is also adding a second weekly session in Thornbury due to high demand for the existing session where people can get free advice on issues including benefits, debt and housing
- These new sessions will start in April alongside a change of time for the charity’s twice-monthly Stoke Gifford session
The largest advice charity in South Gloucestershire is expanding by adding a new weekly advice session – helping people in an area not already covered by its drop-ins.
Westerleigh & Coalpit Heath and Frampton Cotterell
People living in Westerleigh, Coalpit Heath and Frampton Cotterell will benefit from regular visits from Citizens Advice South Gloucestershire’s Advisers – who will be able to help with a vast range of issues.
These include benefits, debt, housing, relationship breakdown and cost-of-living issues such as problems with energy bills as well as much more.
This is the first time the charity has had a presence in these village locations and the drop-in has been made possible thanks to joint funding from Westerleigh & Coalpit Heath Parish Council and Frampton Cotterell Parish Council.
These sessions will happen on Friday afternoons from 1 to 3pm. The sessions will rotate between Westerleigh Village Hall on the first Friday of every month and the Brockeridge Centre in Frampton Cotterell for all the other Friday sessions.
Due to the Easter bank holiday, the first session will be on Friday 10th April at the Brockeridge Centre.
Thornbury
At the same time, Citizens Advice South Gloucestershire is adding a second Thornbury drop-in due to the popularity of its existing Tuesday session at Thornbury Town Hall.
The new session will be on Thursdays, also at the Town Hall from 10am to 12 noon, thanks to funding from Thornbury Town Council – starting Thursday 2nd April.
As with all the charity’s open-door sessions, anyone living in South Gloucestershire can come for help with practically any issue without having to make an appointment.
In many cases the Adviser will be able to help there and then but if the problem is complex, a follow-up appointment will be booked with one of the charity’s specialists.
Stoke Gifford
From April, the charity is also changing the time of its Stoke Gifford session, from 12.30pm -2.30pm at the Community Centre, Little Stoke, to 10am – 12 noon at the same venue.
The session will continue to every second and fourth Monday of the month, with the first session at the new time happening on 13th April.
Citizens Advice South Gloucestershire also runs drop-ins at Lyde Green, Cadbury Heath, Filton, Bradley Stoke, Emersons Green and Staple Hill & Mangotsfield as well as three each week in its Yate Advice Centre.
Citizens Advice South Gloucestershire Development Manager Rebecca Brown said: “We are extremely pleased to be able to provide a new advice session on people’s doorsteps in Westerleigh, Coalpit Heath and Frampton Cotterell.
“These are areas which have not previously been covered – meaning people living here would have had to travel elsewhere in South Gloucestershire to access our face-to-face advice.
“We’re also delighted to increase our presence in Thornbury by adding an additional session on Thursdays as well as the current Tuesday session. This gives an idea of the level of demand for our services which has gone up each year in recent years.”
For more information about the charity’s drop-in times, go to: https://www.southgloscab.org.uk/get-advice/visit-us/
Published 16/03/26.
