The agency closed three weeks ago due to a lack of trained and accredited staff from the RTA.

The council has been looking for replacement staff but at this stage none has been found and council doesn't know when replacement staff will be available.

Council is consulting with the RTA about whether they can relocate staff from elsewhere to assist on a temporary basis, but this will not be known before tomorrow.

Council's executive services manager Barry Shields said the problem was a lack of accredited staff in the area.

"It's not just a case of finding someone, it's a case of finding a licensed person," he said.

"Our permanent staff member remains off work at the moment, and additional temporary relief is dependent on whether the RTA has anyone they can provide."

Mr Shields said the Lightning Ridge agency used a computerised system while Walgett did not, so staff members from Walgett cannot fill in for the Ridge.

The RTA is responsible for accreditation, training and police checks, while the council is responsible for employing staff and providing ongoing time in the agency to keep the staff licences current.

Mr Shields said the accreditation and training process take six weeks so even if a replacement was found it would be June before they were able to begin work.

"We had three trained and accredited staff which for normal course of business is more than enough," he said.

"The spare person had an operation a few months ago and is still not ready to return to work and coincidently both the permanent staff at Lightning Ridge and Walgett have been off for various amounts of time.

"So there was a period a couple of weeks ago where we had both agencies closed. Basically it comes down to not enough people," he said.

"Both agencies cost council a significant amount of money."

Mr Shields said Lightning Ridge residents would have to complete their RTA business at Walgett for the time being.

To deal with the lack of services in Lightning Ridge the Walgett agency will be open for extended hours next week.

It will be open five days a week from 9am to 1pm and again from 2.30pm to 4.30pm.

Council will be discussing options for

the agency at next Monday's council meeting.