Post Office announces consultation on closure of Middleton Post Office

The Post Office has announced that the consultation on the closure of Middleton Post Office will begin on Wednesday 16 January. The Post Office propose to close the Manchester New Road branch and franchise the service to WH Smith.

Liz McInnes, Member of Parliament for Heywood and Middleton, has condemned the proposals and following the announcement last October Liz launched a petition against the plans.

The petition, which can be signed online as well as at several local community centres, is currently approaching 1000 signatures.

• www.lizmcinnesmp.org.uk/campaigns/middletonpostoffice

Liz McInnes MP says: “Over the past five years the Post Office, which is entirely owned by the Government, has announced the closure of 150 flagship Crown Post Offices. This announcement of a further 74 Crown offices to be closed and franchised, including in Middleton, means the Crown network will have been cut by 60% since 2013.

Closing flagship branches, getting rid of experienced staff and putting counters in the back of a WH Smith is not the plan for growth or innovation that the Post Office network so desperately needs, and it is not the level of service that the public should expect. At best these relentless closures point to a lack of vision, and at worst it suggests a managed decline of a public asset.

Also, of concern is the uncertainty about the future of WH Smith themselves, who have recently announced closures of some of their high street stores across the country. It makes little sense and is a huge risk to relocate vital Post Office services into a business which is closing stores, and which might lose more. What happens to our Post Office services if WH Smith closes?

I urge all Middleton residents and all those who use the Post Office to take part in this consultation and to also sign my petition to help show the Post Office just how strongly Middleton feels about these damaging plans.”

Residents can make their views known by the closing date of Wednesday 27 February in the following ways:

Online at www.postofficeviews.co.uk 

Send an email to comments@postoffice.co.uk

Telephone: 03452 66 01 15

Textphone: 03457 22 33 55

Write to Post Office Ltd, Freepost Consultation Team (no stamp required).