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One PO saved – but six will go

13/ 8/2008

CAMPAIGNERS are celebrating a bittersweet victory after a Droylsden post office was saved from closure – but six others in Tameside are to go.

The Edge Lane branch on Manchester Road is one of only four out of 66 Greater Manchester post offices to be saved in a cull of local branches.

Joy was tinged with sadness as the axe fell on all five other Tameside post offices earmarked for closure: on Katherine Street, Ashton, Denton Road, Audenshaw, Cheetham Fold Road, Hyde, Moorside Street, Droylsden and Mottram Road, Stalybridge.

And the Post Office has angered Ashton and Droylsden MP David Heyes by announcing that because four of those earmarked for closure in Greater Manchester have been saved, they are now proposing the closure of the Broadoak Road post office on Broadoak Crescent, Ashton.

He’s vowed to lead the fight against closure.

"I’m furious – especially as it comes on the back of having saved Edge Lane. I think proposing to close the Broadoak Road branch is an even bigger mistake than closing Edge Lane," he said. "Out of all the post offices in Ashton, the Broadoak Road branch would be the last one I would want to close. It’s a very successful little business and very much a part of the local community. Its loss would be a tragedy."

Mr Heyes and Droylsden west Councillor Barrie Holland led the campaign to save Edge Lane post office, known locally as the ‘Market Street branch’.

Mr Heyes added: "When we met with Post Office bosses in my office, we left them in no doubt about the strength of feeling in the community.  This is excellent news for the many local people who backed our campaign to save Edge Lane and for the hundreds who signed our petition and wrote letters to the Post Office."

Councillor Holland added: "It’s great news, especially with so many others shutting. The MP and six Labour councillors, as well as members of the public, put across a very good argument that the main Droylsden post office would be unable to cope."

A six-week public consultation period will commence shortly on the closure of the Broadoak Road branch.

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