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Protesters fail to halt closure of Post Office

Sue Carr
27/ 1/2003

A STALYBRIDGE post office has become the latest victim in the drive to close down branches in urban areas.

Heyrod Post Office is the heartbeat of its small community and provides a vital service for elderly and infirm people to collect their pensions and benefits, campaigners say.

But despite objections from local folk, Post Office bosses have now decided to close the Wakefield Road branch permanently on February 19.

The local lifeline is almost a mile from the nearest offices in Trinity Street and Huddersfield Road in Millbrook.

Stalybridge Cllr Kevin Welsh said the closure would have a massive impact on the small community. He said: "We are extremely disappointed that despite numerous objections from residents, the Post Office have decided to go ahead with this closure.

"This will have a detrimental impact on the elderly people in Heyrod who will have to travel over a mile to receive their pension.

"We are also disappointed at the way that the public consultation was carried out over the busy Christmas period."

He added: "We have written to the Post Office urging them to extend the consultation time and to reconsider their proposal."

Post Office bosses agreed that the closure would be inconvenient for some customers but said they still believed it was the best course of action.

Eddie Herbert, head of area, said: "I am confident that other Post Offices in the area can cope with the extra business this closure will cause.

"Our aim is to safeguard access to a post office for all communities but the harsh reality is that many offices are struggling to survive.

"In the case of Heyrod, a declining number of customers and increased running costs prompted the subpostmaster to want to leave our business."

To object to the closure write to Mr Herbert, Post Office Ltd, PO Box 641, St Albans, AL1 5XN.