FEARS have been expressed that reducing the opening times of Newport's Information Station to four days a week will hit the most vulnerable.

Newport City Council is proposing to close the service on Wednesdays to save £31,600 as part of its budget consultation.

The station offers services including council tax, re-housing services, housing and social services, and currently opens Monday to Friday.

Under the plans, residents would be encouraged to use automated services during the time of the closure, such as online forms and automated payment lines.

But at a meeting of Newport council's performance scrutiny committee on Monday, Conservative councillor David Fouweather (Allt-yr-yn ward) called for a rethink on the plans.

He said: "From my perspective I would rather be on the phone for 10 to 15 minutes than go to the Information Station only to find it is closed.

"I think we have got this the wrong way around.

"We would have been better looking at reducing the phone service instead of the opening times.

"The people who go down to the centre are the most vulnerable and the most in need."

Paul Jones, head of city services at the council, said the reduction in service was 'not ideal' but that savings needed to be found.

Mr Jones said while some people preferred going to the information centre, others preferred the phone service.

Under the proposals the city council's telephone contact centre would remain unaffected.

Cllr Miqdad Al-Nuaimi (Labour, Stow Hill) said he remembered the station being praised when it first opened in 2012 and that it was a 'shame' to reduce the service.

"It's a contradiction in terms," he said.

"We have an Information Station and yet we are proposing to shut it on Wednesdays."

But Labour councillor John Richards (Lliswerry ward) said the council had no option but to find savings.

He said: "All of these cutbacks are the result of austerity, and if we don't do it we don't survive as a council."

A council report says reducing the opening hours of the station is the 'recommended option' but warns it could create issues.

It says: "This is likely to create bottlenecks as although the overall demand for services would remain the same, the operating hours would be reduced.

"In effect this would cause longer queues and wait times during the remaining opening hours both on the phone and face to face."

However it adds there would be measures to mitigate the impact, such as pre-booked appointments for services.

Independent councillor Chris Evans (Rogerstone) asked whether the council could look into working with other organisations, such as the library, to help provide the service.