Council plans alternative services as four post offices are axed
CONTINGENCY plans have been drawn up to help people affected by the closure of post offices in their communities.
The announcement to close four offices in the Redcar and Cleveland area was made on Tuesday morning despite strong opposition to the controversial proposal.
The decision was met with widespread anger and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is drawing up a range of alternative services, with the possibility of utilising its mobile One Stop Shop.
Manish Sahani, who runs the Park Avenue sub-post office in Redcar, said: What can I say really, it was what we were expecting, but I do feel genuinely sorry for our regular customers.
In February, the Post Office earmarked 37 businesses for closure across the region. This was followed by a six-week consultation process and now the first closures are scheduled to take place towards the end of June.
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is planning to help people served by the post offices at four locations the village of Charltons, 44 High Street, Moorsholm, 23 High Street, Lazenby, and Park Avenue, Redcar.
Council leader Coun George Dunning said: We believe the decision fails to recognise the valuable roles these offices play in community life. We are committed to exploring ways in which our services can be delivered from these offices and we will be talking directly to the Post Office to investigate ways of reopening services with some degree of financial support from the council.
The council is planning discussions with each of the four offices involved and assessing what help it can offer through its own outreach facilities, that include the mobile One Stop Shop, which already offers a service to outlying areas on a weekly basis.
8:13am Friday 16th May 2008
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