Date: 04 July 2007 08:52

COUNTY COUNCIL FIGHTS TO PROTECT POST OFFICE NETWORK

The County Council's Cabinet has vowed to take a leading role in trying to 
protect the post office network around Cambridgeshire.

Cabinet Members (July 2) supported a proposal that the Council should play 
an active role with other partners in doing everything possible to prevent 
closures of local Post Offices and where closures are proposed, to endeavour 
to provide or identify alternative provision.

The Government's Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has announced that 
2,500 Post Offices across the UK are to close by 2009. It is calculated that 
this means the loss of around 228 branches in the East of England, which 
equates to the potential closure of 20-30 branches in Cambridgeshire.

Over the summer Post Office Limited will undertake local consultation before 
making restructuring decisions and the County Council has already been 
invited to a presentation being hosted jointly by The Post Office and 
Postwatch on July 10, to have its say on the proposed restructuring in the 
East of England.

Cabinet endorsed a report presented by Councillor Victor Lucas which 
supported taking a pro-active approach to reducing the impact of the DTI 
proposals for Cambridgeshire.

Councillor Lucas, who is Cabinet Member for Communities, said: "The Council 
has already been invited to be part of the consultation, but we need to take 
steps to prevent closures of the local Post Office network wherever 
possible, and given that some closure are almost certainly inevitable, to 
work with partners to identify and pursue every opportunity to provide an 
alternative service in communities which lose their traditional Post 
Office."

The County Council has already stepped in to provide alternative Post Office 
facilities at Bar Hill Library after the village Post Office closed.

In future consideration could be given to using County Council buildings 
around Cambridgeshire for Post Office operations or to improving transport 
or community travel provision to enable people to reach Post Offices in 
other nearby communities.

John Reynolds