John meets Knypersley Postmaster Brian Ellis

We have to move to protect Post Office services

There has been great anxiety recently about the future of local Post Offices.

Up until last week authorities and organisations across Staffordshire were playing a waiting game - waiting for the publication of the review by Post Office Ltd (POL) into the future of Post Offices in Staffordshire.

Now the results of that review are out in the open we are finally in a position to draw up a response.

As a county council we have already made our position clear. That is that we do not want to see vulnerable people losing access to valuable services. We are not saying that those services should be provided in exactly the same way, or from exactly the same buildings, but that the services must be available.

We are now working with our partners to look at what we can do to protect services. We are in touch with the Community Council of Staffordshire, other county councils in the region and Postwatch, which is the Consumer Council for Postal Services. We will also be talking to the eight district councils in Staffordshire.

One of the things that immediately struck us about POL's plans for Post Offices is that they have not offered Staffordshire the "outreach" package that other county's will receive.

Outreach is essentially a way of offering Post Office services in the absence of a Post Office. This can include a mobile Post Office visiting on a regular basis, or Post Office staff setting up shop in another community facility.

We want to know why no outreach is planned for Staffordshire. We want to lobby for that to change, and we want to look at what the county council can offer to help that position change.

We are also taking a long-term view of this issue. The may be only the first round of proposed closures. We need to make sure that all Post Offices in Staffordshire are protected as far as possible from future rounds of cuts, and the best way to do that is to ensure they are viable businesses, and that is why we may be able to offer business support and guidance.

Page Last Modified: 11/04/2008 15:10:01

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