Council in bid to save 28 POs

Hard-hitting questions are to be put to Post Office bosses in a bid by Shirehall watchdogs to find out the reasons why the company has targeted 28 branches across Shropshire for the axe.

A county council report into the planned closures has led to Post Office Ltd being accused of discrimination, with a warning that many of its proposed alternative services are neither practical or realistic.

Members of a council scrutiny panel will be seeking answers to the questions so that the authority can make its formal response to the closures move.

It has "many concerns" about the proposals, says the 56-page report, and it is imperative that clearer information is forthcoming from Post Office Ltd.

South Shropshire, for example, has borne the brunt of the proposed closures but given that the county council does not have access to information from all of the county's post offices, there is no way it can fully understand how the proposals will result in a more acceptable network.

The report warns that preventing post offices earmarked for closure from finding alternative ways of delivering services for 12 months, discriminates against remote rural communities.

"We are also concerned that this places unfair limitations on the village shops which are losing their post office and which we are particularly keen to support," it adds. "This intention was not made clear during the national consultation."

Looking at the threat to the Shrewsbury post offices at Greenfields and Ditherington, the report says there is no evidence of how the large number of proposed new houses was taken into consideration.

In the case of Ditherington, the suggested alternative at Sentinel Gardens will not have the capacity to handle the addition business, it says.

It also highlights the case of Lydbury North, where the nearest alternative to its closure-threatened post office is more than three miles away and there is no bus service between them.

The report is being presented to the county council's economy and environment scrutiny panel on Tuesday to which senior Post Office officials have been invited.

By Dave Morris