A council has apologised to the people of Cleator Moor for withdrawing a community service.

A customer services officer from Copeland Council had been attending the town's library for drop-in sessions but the authority had stopped sending its staff in January.

Cumbria County Council, which runs the venue, was unaware that the sessions had been dropped and they were still being advertised.

Copeland Council has now written to the county council to explain the withdrawal and has apologised to customers.

Residents used the service to access advice on housing benefits, council tax reduction claims and bin collection and recycling queries.

A Copeland Council spokesman said: "We apologise that formal notification was not given to Cumbria County Council that we were ending this service. We have written to the council to rectify this oversight.

“Copeland Council had a customer services officer based in Cleator Moor Library for two mornings per week, however this service has been withdrawn.

"The service was not well used, and the member of staff was only serving a very small number of customers. Therefore the decision was taken that it was not viable to continue the service in Cleator Moor, in terms of cost-effectiveness and best use of the officer’s time."