Pledge to fight Shropshire post office cuts
Cutbacks to post office services in communities across south Shropshire could have a huge impact on residents and businesses, campaigners today warned.
Shropshire councillor Richard Huffer said branches were a "lifeline" to older people and that proposed changes could have sizeable reprrcussions.
A petition has been launched to fight plans to close Clee Hill's post office and replace it with a mobile service. It comes just five years after hundreds of people signed a petition to save the branch from closure.
Members of Caynham Parish Council, which covers the communities of Caynham, Clee Hill, Knowbury and Coreley, have raised grave concerns over the proposals, which are still being consulted on by the Post Office, and want a permanent counter service maintained.
Meanwhile, the future of Ludlow's post office hangs in the balance, as plans have been unveiled to turn the One Stop shop in Tower Street, where it is based, into a restaurant and flats.
Councillor Huffer, who represents Clee Hill, said a service of a few hours a week would not be enough to serve the area, despite claims by Post Office Ltd that the new proposals would offer a more "permanent and sustainable solution".
Councillor Huffer said: "Clee Hill is a sizeable community and is expanding.
"There is an ageing population, it is one of the highest communities in the county and the weather is not so good most of the year.
"For a lot of older people especially, the post office is a lifeline, so it is making the quality of life that much worse for them."
The fate of Ludlow's post office was also a concern. "We're trying to relocate it, but that is very much up in the air at the moment," he said.
George Cummings, chairman of the Friends of Clee Hill Forum and a member of Caynham Parish Council, said Clee Hill's post office was used by people from as wide an area as Knowbury, Coreley, Doddington, Cleeton St Mary, Whitton and Caynham. He said in 2011 it had been closed suddenly but was reopened three weeks later after a petition was signed by hundreds of people.
A Post Office Ltd spokesman said: "The (Clee Hill) branch has been operated by a temporary postmaster from the existing premises. While this arrangement has helped to maintain a service for local customers, in such circumstances it is the Post Office's intention to find a permanent and sustainable solution.
"The Post Office suggests the proposal meets that aim and believe that it will provide them and the new postmaster with a financially viable and sustainable service."
Consultation over the plans ends on September 30 and is at postofficeviews.co.uk/liveconsultation.php
