New parents and loved ones will have to travel further to register births, marriages, civil partnerships and deaths after Powys County Council (PCC) agreed to close four offices.

Register offices in Llanidloes, Knighton, Builth Wells and Hay-on-Wye will close in a bid to save £49,000.

PCC says the part-time appointment only offices have closed due to low usage and to save money on officer and travel costs.

Two relief staff members based in Llanidloes will be moved to the nearest registration office at Newtown.

The county council says the changes will not involve a reduction in services as more appointment slots will be available at the main registration offices at Llandrindod Wells, Newtown and Brecon.

Powys Registration Service had operated out of 10 part-time offices at Welshpool, Newtown, Machynlleth, Llanidloes, Llandrindod Wells, Builth Wells, Knighton, Brecon, Hay-on-Wye and Ystradgynlais.

But the council says the registry offices at Llanidloes Town Hall, Antur Gwy in Builth Wells, Hay-on-Wye Council Offices and Offa’s Dyke Heritage Centre in Knighton, are too costly to run.

Renting the registration office in Knighton raised £600 for The Offa’s Dyke Association charity, which the council says it is “no longer able to absorb”. To “lessen the financial burden”, the council has allowed Offa’s Dyke Heritage Centre to split their payment for a Civil Ceremonies Licence into two payments.

The council says people may have to travel “slightly” further to access registration services but the changes will offer more flexible office hours in their main offices especially during periods of high death registrations.

Llanidloes County Councillor Gareth Morgan says the closures are “not good enough”.

“They don’t care a damn about people in Llanidloes! They’ve never even thought it through.”

He added: “It’s expensive for people, for elderly people. For a widow whose lost her husband and she may have no children, no car, she’s got to struggle on the bus to get to her appointment in Newtown and then she’s got to find out where it is in the town. It’s not good enough.”

Mayor of Llanidloes Cllr Janet Crisp criticised Powys County Council for “taking everything away from the town”.

Sonia Pritchard, Llanidloes Town Council clerk, said it was “very poor” that there had been no consultation before the decision to close the registration office.

The town council hosts the registration services staff free of charge with no heating or electrical costs.

Hay-on-Wye Town Council clerk Nick Burdekin said although they have yet to receive a leaving date from PCC, it was “very sad” to see the service leave the town.

Cabinet Member for Corporate Governance, Councillor James Evans, said: “As part of this year’s budget the council approved plans to save £49,000 by closing under used part-time appointment only offices at Builth, Knighton, Llanidloes and Hay-on-Wye, with informants to attend the registration offices at Llandrindod Wells, Newtown and Brecon instead.

He added: “A decision was taken not to consult on the proposals because information showed the offices were under-utilised, costly to run and there was greater flexibility to accommodate appointments at the main offices.”