Fight against Sharrowvale Post Office closure

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 27th Apr 2006

Cllr White with Cllr Scriven outside the under threat Post Office

A local councillor is launching a fight to save a sub-post office in Sheffield in an area where several others have recently been closed in national moves to trim the network of suburban counters.

Under Post Office plans, the office in Sharrowvale Road will close. A planning application has already been submitted to Sheffield Council to extend a pasta restaurant, which occupies premises next door, into the building. The council have recommended that the application be accepted.

The Liberal Democrat councillor for the area, Cllr Patricia White, has objected to the application and will fight the proposed closure of the Post Office. Cllr White is writing to the chairmen of Post Office asking them to reconsider the decision to pull out of the area. Instead, Cllr White suggests that the Post Office should try to strike a deal with another existing business in the area, to absorb the counter so both could operate with reduced overheads.

The local area has already seen recent Post Offices closures. Two have closed in the nearby Ecclesall Road area and another office has closed on Lynmouth Road. Local residents will have to travel as far as Banner Cross or in the centre of Town for the nearest Post Office.

The closure is part of a national rationalisation programme which will result in the closure of 9,000 branches across the country. Much of the reason for the programme was a change in the way many pensions and benefits were paid instigated by the Labour Government. Recipients have been encouraged to have money paid directly into bank accounts. That removed the need for the post office to fulfil those duties, leaving many branches vulnerable to closure.

Councillor Patricia White, Liberal Democrat member for Nether Edge, said: -

"I am not against private enterprise and I have no objection to local the local restaurant wanting to extend their business. However I am concerned that there are a lot of elderly people living in the area and in future, as a result of the closure, their nearest post office will be too far away"

"I have objected to the application and will be writing to the chairman of the Post Office group. I believe that there is a solution to keep all parties happy if we can involve a local business to provide a Post Office counter"

"We talk about community cohesion, but on another level communities seem to be getting dismantled as a result of Labour policy on this issue. This will cause a lot of difficulties in our local area but we wont let the office close without a fight"