RINGING the changes at Bury's town hall soon will be British Telecom's new FeatureNet system which is due to become operational next Monday. The town hall, central library, tourist information office, housing and environmental services, art gallery and museum and education department will switch to a new, central switchboard number which is 0161-253 500.

It will replace the old 705 series of numbers and callers for Council services can expect easier access to local authority departments as the system becomes fully operational in April.

Says information technology sub-committee chairman Councillor Mike Connolly: "Because of the complexity of the system it has been necessary to phase in FeatureNet.

"We are asking callers to bear with us over the next couple of weeks, but, having said that, the benefits of the new service will become apparent almost immediately."

The new system will be a cash saver, with free desk-to-desk dialling to any telephone on the system, and calls outside attracting a 17.5 per cent discount over the standard call rate.

For the first three months callers dialling the old Bury Metro number will be intercepted by BT and given the new number.

ZTRYING the new telephone service are the Mayor, Councillor Neville Singer, and information technology sub-committee chairman Mike Connolly.

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