MILLIONS of pounds are to be spent installing a new Town Hall telephone system during the coming months.

From late next summer Bolton council headquarters will have a new main telephone number and eventually every site and office will be linked through the new central number.

And despite shelling out £2m on the new system council chiefs are confident it will save money in the long-run, with free calls between offices.

It means that the current main switchboard number 01204 522311 will be changed to 01204 333333.

Offices will also have their own direct-dial lines meaning callers will not have to go through the switchboard.

Heavily-used service such as Council Tax, housing benefits, refuse collection and the Albert Halls will also get their own easily-remembered direct dial numbers.

And schools will be able to phone each other at no charge, as part of the huge technical undertaking.

Council leader, Cllr Bob Howarth, said: "It's a big investment but we expect to save money on telephone bills. At the moment when one school wants to ring another it's an 'outside' call and will go on the school bill.

"Under the new system these calls will be free and when you think we have around 100 schools it should add up to a sizeable saving each year in that sector alone.

"These free calls will apply among all the sites which will be wired into the new system so all our authority site calls will be free.

"People ringing the Council will also be able to dial direct, saving them the time, which means the cost, of going through the switchboard."

The system will be installed in hundreds of council sites including schools, offices and leisure facilities, with the new main switch number coming into use in Autumn.

The only exception will be offices in Westhoughton which have a different national dialling code.

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