District Council launches post offices survey

Stratford District Council is to conduct a survey of all the post offices in its area to identify any whose survival may be threatened by plans to cut back the national post office network.  

Councillor Trevor Russel, the Deputy Leader of the District Council who is the lead member for rural issues, said this week: "The government says it expects around 2,500 post offices to close, which will hit some rural communities especially hard.  

"We don't know how many post offices in our district may be affected - none hopefully. But we need to identify any which may be at risk so that we can consider what we as a Council, working with partners, might be able to do in the event of any threatened closures."  

All 53 members of the Council have been asked to liaise with post offices in their wards to obtain information on numbers of users, volumes of transactions, income from providing each service and the effect that closing the post office would have on other businesses run from the same shop.  

Councillor Russel added: "Post offices play a vital role in the life of our rural communities, and any closure would be a bitter pill to swallow - further reducing access to rural services.  

"By acting now to identify any that are at risk, we will able to intervene sooner rather when it may be too late to explore with the local community and our partners the opportunities for addressing the situation."