I wonder if anyone can help find a geo or freephone number for this organisation Locality (www.locality.org.uk)   It's a government funded organisation directed towards helping & promoting localism.   The address is: 33 Corsham Street, London N1 6DR, the phone number given is 0845 458 8336, fax no 020 7706 8447.  They obviously haven't read the latest guidance yet on this & public bodies.   Any help would be very gratefully received as I think I'll need to phone them & it may be a lengthy call.

Hi Barbara,

This may or may not help.  I decided to Google Locality and part of the fax number 020 7 and got this I also click on the London page and got similar numbers beginning 020 7336.

I then looked at the address and got several companies which whilst unconnected have the same number format at the address. I would therefore suggest we are after a number beginning with that format as the central contact number.

I do hope this helps.

Thank you so much, I will give this a try tomorrow & post the results.

CJT-80 wrote on Jan 12^th, 2014 at 3:33pm:

This may or may not help.  I decided to Google Locality and part of the fax number 020 7 and got this I also click on the London page and got similar numbers beginning 020 7336.

The pattern of the numbering would suggest that 020 7336 9400 might be the first of the block.

I tried the 0845 number to see how it answers and it does so after 15 seconds, the recorded message identifying itself as Locality. I tried 020 7336 9400 and it rung unanswered. Then I tried 020 7336 9401 and it went through to the same answering service as on the 0845 number. I have listed this in the database.

Dave.. clearly the small amount of work I did helped enough for you to do that..

I really should of thought of that myself..

Barbara.. seems you have the alternative now

:)

Thank you, both of you.  I need to speak to the Dept for Comms & Local Govt first (and finding any telephone numbers for a govt dept these days seems almost impossible, never mind a specific section within that so I'll have to try the main switchboard no, at least it's an 03!) then I will try Locality.

Good Luck Barbara

:)

Amazingly, I had no problem getting through to the correct (and very helpful!) person at the Dept for Comms & Local Govt!    I then tried Locality & the number does work but the person who answered suggested I spoke to someone else & she would give me the number which was the 0845, I pointed us this would be expensive for me & she said it "shouldn't be charged"!   Anyway, I requested that she transfer me, she replied that she would try but it might not work.   However, it did work & that person was also helpful.   If using this number, it is advisable to hold firm, mention that 0845 is PR & request, firmly, to be transferred!   Thanks again for the help.

If you speak to the Department for Communications and Local Government again, you could make them aware of the recent Cabinet Office Guidance that steers government departments and public services away from 084 and 087 numbers and over to 01, 02, 03 and, in some circumstances, 080 numbers.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmg-guidance-for-customer-service-lines

Yes, the Dept of Comms & LG are using an 03 (see my earlier post), it was Locality which sems to be a govt funded organisation which is supposed to give advice to communities eg on neighbourhood plans etc which uses the 0845 & their employee who told me I "shouldn't be charged".