Post office 'axed without consultation'

The Post Office has axed a branch office in Telford without carrying out any consultation, Telford & Wrekin Council chiefs claimed today.

They made the claim after learning that the Post Office has no plans to replace its branch destroyed in a blaze in the centre of Leegomery five years ago.

The council has since regenerated the centre and reopened new shops.

Council spokesman Nigel Newman said the authority, together with a representative of Hadley and Leegomery Parish Council, had met the Post Office to voice their concerns about the lack of consultation over the closure.

The meeting followed a campaign in 2008 by the council and the community to urge Royal Mail chiefs to retain other post offices in the borough that were ultimately closed.

Council leader Andrew Eade criticised the Post Office's actions.

Councillor Eade said: "The Post Office has contrived to use the circumstances that forced a temporary closure in Leegomery to effectively engineer with no consultation what is a stealth closure.

"A significant petition has now been raised by the local community campaign for a post office to be reinstated in the new Spar.

"We have said to the Post Office that its approach and its treatment of people in Leegomery is unacceptable and are demanding that a full consultation is held and that the Post Office reconsider the business case for this post office. We are now awaiting its response."

Nobody from Royal Mail was available to comment on the decision today.