North Yorkshire
| NORTH YORKSHIRE |  | | | CLEVELAND | | | | COUNTY DURHAM | |
|
|
|
Glimmer of hope over post offices facing axe
COMMUNITIES rocked by news that dozens of post offices in the region are to close have been offered a faint glimmer of hope.
Post Office Limited insist that the 37 branch closures announced for Richmond, Cleveland and South Durham will start next month.
But managers say that, while there is no appeals process, they are prepared to talk to councils and voluntary groups that want to explore options for replacement services.
A spokesman for the Post Office said: "We are very willing to work with local authorities and other groups who want to fund, and provide premises and staff for, additional services in their community."
On Wednesday, the Local Government Association staged a conference for campaigners trying of save some of the 2,500 branches earmarked for closure in the national network review. Several councils and voluntary groups raised the idea of providing postal services in libraries, sports centres and other local public buildings.
Three national charities have set up a free service to advise rural communities on how to continue offering a post office service if the network changes affect their area.
The www.expertsonline.org site is a joint initiative between charities Ruralnet, Action for Market Towns and Action with Communities in Rural England.
On Tuesday, it was announced that all 37 branches on the hit list were to close. A further two branches would be replaced with outreach services.
News of the closures came despite protests and community campaigns to save many of them.
During a six-week public consultation period, which ended on March 26, Post Office Ltd received about 2,590 responses and attended 22 meetings with customers and their representatives.
Officials also received several petitions but confessed they did not know how many people had signed because they did not count them.
After hearing that not one branch had been removed from the closure list, campaigners say they feel ignored.
The Post Office insists that closures are necessary to save the remaining network and stem loses of 4m a week. The Government has ordered it to shed 2,500 branches by the end of 2008.
There was anger during the closure period when Labour MPs who had pledged to save local branches voted against a Tory Commons motion that would have suspended the closure programme.
Easington MP John Cummings was the only North-East MP who crossed party lines to vote for the closures to be suspended.
Post Office spokesman Graham Moore said: "We spend a lot of time planning before closures are proposed and do fully consider feedback before finalising the plans.
"We have removed branches from the list in other areas but this time believe we got it right first time."
Mark Richardson, of Waitwith Road branch in Catterick Garrison, said the shop he ran alongside the post office was unlikely to survive.
He said: "It's very disappointing, and it will hit the many young families who live here very hard."
Dr Ashok Kumar, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, appealed for a stay of execution for the Moorsholm branch while villagers explored ways of boosting the business.
He said: "That, I would submit, is a far fairer way to deal with this issue that for the Post Office to merely announce an obstinate, illogical, closure proposal and then wash their hands of the issue."
The full list of closures in our area is:
Billingham: Clifton Avenue & Cowpen Lane; Bolam; Boldron; Brompton; Catterick Garrison: Plumor Road; Charltons; Croft.
Darlington: Brinkburn Road, Cleveland Terrace, Pierremont Crescent; Heighington; Hutton Henry; Hutton Magna; Kirk Merrington; Lazenby; Leeholme; Long Newton; Moorsholm; Newton Aycliffe: Simpasture Gate.
Northallerton: High Street; Redcar: Park Avenue; Richmond: Reeth Road; Romaldkirk; Seamer; Shildon: Coronation Avenue; South Church; Stockton: Oxbridge Lanel; Thorpe Thewles; Toft Hill; Winston.
6:01pm Thursday 15th May 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
