Ten post offices to close
11:17am Tuesday 1st July 2008
Comments (14)TEN post offices are facing the axe in West Dorset, it has been revealed.
Details of the future of post office services in Dorset are due to be published on July 15 by the Post Office.
But West Dorset District Council understands the plan could see the closure of about 10 post offices.
The authority is now drawing up plans to help affected communities deal with the change.
Council leader Robert Gould said: "We don't yet know which communities in the district will be affected by post office closures, however, we want to ensure that the impact on those affected is kept to a minimum.
"We are committed to helping to retain rural services in the district and will be working with Post Office Ltd, Post Watch, Dorset Community Action and others to help the affected communities."
Members of the council's executive committee have agreed to hold a special training session for all councillors to help them work with communities hit by the closures.
They have also agreed a £10,000 grant to support a programme that will include the establishment of virtual post offices, satellite post offices with neighbouring communities and working to save general stores where the post offices are lost.
Simon Thompson, fieldworker for community support group Dorset Community Action, said: "We are hopeful that Dorset closures might be lower than average because we are one of the last ones to be announced.
"We certainly welcome the efforts made by West Dorset Partnership to help communities affected by the closures when they come.
"We would like to see that rolled out across the county."
Nationally, some 2,500 post offices are set for closure. It is thought that about 30 will close across Dorset.
Mr Thompson said some villages, including Portesham, had already held meetings about what action they would take if their post office was closed.
There will be a seven-week consultation period after network plans are published by the post office.
Your Say YourThisisdorset
MarkG, Weymouth says...
2:51pm Tue 1 Jul 08
Mike wrote:The same goes for Hospitals...and the schools, when have they ever earned us any money? The government should stop spending my taxes on useful services and waste it all the Olympics and bailing out defunct financial institutions.
If they are not viable then they should close, i dont think things should be subsidised if they are not making money.
* This message was bought to you by the Sarcasm Fairy
Albo, Wyke Regis says...
3:28pm Tue 1 Jul 08
free wessex, dorset says...
6:06pm Tue 1 Jul 08
DingDonG, Wilds of Wiltshire says...
9:57pm Tue 1 Jul 08
Extend this idea to the letter box in YOUR front door...if you don't regularly get more than 2 letters a day, your off the postmans round and will have to pick up at your "local" P.O. (now 20 miles away)
This would increase profit and get rid of most of the postmen.
Rowland Hill R.I.P.
nige, dorchester says...
11:34am Wed 2 Jul 08
Mike, Portland says...
11:55am Wed 2 Jul 08
maximus, Weymouth says...
12:24pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Voice Of Reason, Weymouth says...
12:32pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Voice Of Reason, Weymouth says...
12:33pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Mike, Portland says...
4:12pm Wed 2 Jul 08
maximus wrote:I agree with what you say most village post offices are part of a general store so if it is used to any great extent then it won't close as it will be deemed viable. The trouble is its the old saying use it or lose it. It is a sad fact of life that all the things that we took for granted for many years are or have disappeared ie the milkman,baker etc. I would have liked to have kept all our services gas,electric ,water, trains, mail all under state ownership but thats another story the fact is nothing to day is run as a service for the people.
Mike, Portland Most of what you say is true IF you have access to the internet but how do you weigh your parcel accurately and how do you get it accepted for transmission if it is too large to fit into a letter box slot? Most village post offices are part of a general store and the two businesses are often mutually supportive.
DingDonG, Wilds of Wiltshire says...
5:16pm Wed 2 Jul 08
YOUR POSTMAN HAS BEEN SACKED !!!
(although he may still bring you some junk mail)
nige, dorchester says...
7:40pm Wed 2 Jul 08
It is a sad fact of life that all the things that we took for granted for many years are or have disappeared ie the milkman,baker etcThats not a sad fact....thats a happy fact. With those people out of business our supermarkets can deal directly with the supplier of the products which means cheaper produce for the customers....
Mike, Portland says...
8:12pm Wed 2 Jul 08
nige wrote:Sorry Nige but you are so wrong i am talking about the local baker who made his own bread not some massed produced rubbish from a giant factory & the butcher who would cut the meat as you wanted. I am not against supermarkets but they are so impersonal.
It is a sad fact of life that all the things that we took for granted for many years are or have disappeared ie the milkman,baker etcThats not a sad fact....thats a happy fact. With those people out of business our supermarkets can deal directly with the supplier of the products which means cheaper produce for the customers....
But it is just what I was saying you want supermarkets because they offer you what you want & if the Post Offices offered people what they want then they would be doing good business. In their hey day we needed lots of Post Offices to cope with all the business before the days of free banking everybody had an account with them it was the only place to collect your pension or buy a tv licence or car tax, now what can you do in a Post Office that you cant do elsewhere .
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Mike, Portland says...
1:26pm Tue 1 Jul 08