Last updated at 12:32, Tuesday, 29 July 2008

POSTAL outreach services due to replace axed post offices could also be under threat because of a cash shortfall.

A new report by The Business and Enterprise Select Committee has said it is concerned there may not be enough money to run alternative postal services in pubs, churches and village halls.

Post offices in Greenodd and Leven Valley are due to shut under the national closure programme, which will affect 2,500 counters across the country. Both are due to be replaced with outreach services. Despite a prolonged and hard-fought campaign, Greenodd post office is set to close towards the end of the year. Postmistress Janet Willis said she wouldn’t be surprised if the figures didn’t add up.

She said: “It wouldn’t surprise me at all. We are at the stage now where we do not know what’s happening.

“We have had notification that we’re closing but they can’t give us a specific date. They have indicated September or October but that’s all reliant on them getting this outreach sorted. I’m getting sick of this situation because it is just dragging on.”

Mrs Willis said she is still unconvinced that an outreach service, whether it’s in the form of a van or at a fixed location, will save much money once rent, staff wages and reduced hours are taken into account. No one was available to comment from Leven Valley post office, but it’s understood there are still no firm plans on what form the outreach service will take.

The MP’s report said: “We remain concerned that the funding provided for outreach services may be inadequate. If this is the case, outreach services will fail and the network be diminished.”

It also urged close examination of the relationship between Post Office Ltd and its parent company Royal Mail Group after finding that money provided by Royal Mail was not enough for the Post Office to run its services.

The report called for a major national efficiency inquiry into the proposals.

A Post Office Ltd spokesman said: “Outreach services are one way to establish a commercially viable and successful business for a sub-postmaster providing services across a number of communities within the funding available from the government.

“It’s complete nonsense to suggest that Royal Mail uses Post Office Ltd to subsidise the mail’s business and as Post Office Ltd made very clear, the issue is that it costs too much to run the post office network at a time when government and other traditional business is falling away.”

A spokesman for Business Secretary John Hutton said: “We welcome the committee’s further report on the Post Office network and its continuing interest in ensuring a sustainable network for the future.

“We will give the committee’s report full consideration. However, its key recommendations are for the Independent Review, Postcomm and the National Audit office to consider.”

First published at 12:03, Tuesday, 29 July 2008
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk