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Gatley Post Office Closure

Comments and Observations on the proposed closure of the High Grove Post Office in Gatley

Cheadle Area Committee - l to r, Cllrs: Mick Jones, June Somekh, John Pantall, Paul Porgess, Brian Millard, Peter Burns; Democratic services - Craig Ainsworth and Leah Shallaker; Emma Curle - planning and Cllr Sheila Humphreys; Absent - Cllrs Pam King and Derek Whitehead

Last night at the Cheadle Area Committee Steve Burns (Head of Stockport Council's Regeneration and Leisure) asked Cheadle Area Committee for their comments and observations on the proposed closure of the High Grove Post office at 105 Silverdale Road in Gatley.  The council wanted the committee to give its views as to how local residents and businesses would be affected by the proposed closure - with a deadline for objections to the Post Office being July 21st.

The closure of Post Offices is mandatory - the government recognises that fewer people are using the national post office network and they have insisted that the Post office puts in place a Network Change Programme to implement measures proposed by the government to stop losses of £3 million per week. In Stockport that translates into 11 out of 41 post offices are being proposed for closure.

Comments were as follows:

• Cllr Pantall said ‘20% of the population affected by the High Grove Closure have no cars, are possibly amongst the oldest and poorest section of the population and there is no public transport in place to take these people to any of the remaining nearest Post Offices'.
• The local parade of shops would clearly be affected by the closure.
• Cllr Sheila Humphreys said ‘One of the nearest Post Offices is in Heald Green which despite it having 3 service windows/positions and supposing it opens 9am to 5.30 pm Monday to Friday, and 9am to 12.30pm Saturdays has been closed 3 times in the past week due to staff shortages'. Older residents have had to go back another day to find out if the Post office had reopened.

On Saturday at the Heald Green Festival the Lib dems was collecting signatures for a petition to save this post office.

So what do you the public think? Post your comments to the bottom of this article.

Community Comment:

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Joined: 23 Apr 2008
Posts: 60

At 16:20 on 2nd July 2008, R H commented:

The answer is not to close Post Offices, but to give them more services to offer to make them financially viable. For many people in the community the Post Office is lifeline that should be preserved at all costs.

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Joined: 17 Jun 2008
Posts: 1

At 18:42 on 2nd July 2008, N S commented:

I agree with RH - make the Post Office more financially viable. I feel that the elderly will be most affected by the closure.

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Posts: 4

At 19:47 on 2nd July 2008, Tina T commented:

How sad it is to lose the Post Offices, especially for the elderly. And how on earth are people without cars expected to get to the nearest remaining Post Offices? As per the comments above it's a shame that a compromise couldn't be found.

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Posts: 20

At 20:58 on 2nd July 2008, Haley S commented:

I always think that writing separate letters is more effective than a petition so people should do that. However, they will probably ignore those too and close it anyway. That's what's happened across the country and now the remaining post offices are struggling with demand, and vulnerable people are struggling too.

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Posts: 5

At 12:28 on 3rd July 2008, Angela S commented:

I cannot understand the "thinking" behind all these closures. The Government, in one breath, says they are doing all they can to encourage communities to work together, voice their concerns, improve their local areas, etc, and then, with the next breath, announce the desecration of communities with closures of post offices. Where is the logic? Does everything have to be "cost-effective"?

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