Post Office closures
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Council looks into saving post offices
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| Richard Barnes AM receives the petition from the manageress of The Avenue post office |
The possibility of some post offices coming under council control came a step closer last night.
At a meeting of Ealing Council's cabinet, councillors decided to allow officers to enter into a non-disclosure agreement with Post Office Ltd, to find out the costs of supporting the eight branches threatened with closure in the borough.
However, Councillor Jason Stacey, the leader of the council, warned residents not to get their hopes up of a council reprieve, and urged Post Office Ltd to abandon the closure plans.
He said: "We do not wish to raise expectations on this issue. Post Offices are used by a small but important section of the community.
"We have asked officers to look into the model used by Essex County Council, although the stores they have are predominantly rural.
"The minister in charge of this says rural post offices cost £13,000 to run, and urban branches £23,000, although I am wary of these figures and we would want to look at them more closely.
advertisement"We have to look closely at how much we need to pay the post masters and whether they actually want to stay open."
Cllr Stacey also warned the council would need to be careful not to break EU rules on subsidising businesses with public money, and take into account the potential cost to council tax payers.
The consultation period over the closures ends today, and the council entered strong objections to the plans.
Councillor David Millican, who is in charge of development, said: "This council is disappointed with the proposals and has strong objections to the closures. As a council we are working hard to keep local shopping centres viable."
If the council do take over the subsidising some of the branches it could see some council services, such as parking permits, offered from those branches.
On Friday Richard Barnes, the Tory candidate for the Ealing and Hillingdon Greater London Assembly seat, collected a petition with 1,000 names on it, demanding the branch in The Avenue is spared closure.
He told the Ealing Times: "Post offices are the cement which holds together communities. Ealing seems to have been hit far worse than many other London Boroughs."
12:11pm Wednesday 2nd April 2008
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