Extra time appeal over PO closures
Apr 16 2008 by Ben Guy, The Journal
A COUNCIL is looking to double the time allocated to a public consultation period for possible post office closures to make sure everybody has their say.
Royal Mail is expected to announce a number of proposed closures in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and parts of County Durham this summer as part of a major cost-cutting exercise.
But the company has come in for criticism because of the timing of its six-week consultation exercise as it could coincide with people’s summer holidays.
The consultation starts on July 1 and runs until August 10, but Tynedale Council is asking for it to be extended by six weeks to ensure maximum involvement from parish councils and the public.
In February The Journal reported how a motion had been put before the council asking for the consultation to be extended.
Chief executive of the council Richard Robson said: “The loss of essential services provided by rural post offices and the affects on remote communities that depend on them is of great concern to the council.
“After the notice of motion at full council on February 26, we wrote to Post Office Ltd about the network consultation in Tynedale, urging them to change the schedule to allow effective consultation with the town and parish councils and residents outside the summer school holiday period and to extend the consultation period to 12 weeks.
“We would like to gain public support for this extension, and urge parish and town councils and residents to write to Network Change Programme Office, Post Office Ltd, FREEPOST, Network Change, as soon as possible.”
Mr Robson added that he hoped the extension would win pubic support and encourage more people to get involved with the process.
He said: “This is the chance for local communities to put forward the case for their post offices to remain open.
“The council is geared up to offer advice and support to individual communities when post offices are threatened with closure.”
A Post Office Ltd spokesman said that the consultation period would not be extended because not enough of it fell in August.
He said: “The code of practice for the summer holiday period is that, in cases where more than two weeks of the six-week consultation period fall within August, the consultation period will be extended by one week.”
To read previous articles on this subject, click the links below
Rallying call in the post over closures
Pressure builds on ‘undemocratic’ PO
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