D-Day for rural post

May 27 2008 by Jenny Wood

COMMUNITIES across Perth and Kinross will learn tomorrow if they are to be stripped of their lifeline sub post offices.

In bad news for customers, the Government decided to unleash a nationwide programme to close 2500 branches, and Perth and Kinross has not escaped unscathed.

The PA understands several local post offices have been earmarked for closure.

Tomorrow morning (Wednesday) the Post Office will reveal the names of those Big County post offices which face the axe. In a race against time the communities affected will have just a few weeks to try and prove why their local service should be saved.

The six-week consultation on the proposed closure of several branches in Perth and Kinross will begin tomorrow and, with the floor thrown open until July 8, communities are being urged to have their say.

Already local leaders are gearing up for the final fight.

Pete Wishart, Perth and North Perthshire’s Westminster representative, is one taking up the gauntlet.

He told the PA: “I intent to speak to all affected Post Offices over the next few days and hope we can go some distance to save this vital community resource.”

As the closure programme sweeps across the UK, this is the fourth out of six areas of Scotland up for the chop.

The Post Office say falling customer numbers and mounting financial losses – more than eight out of 10 rural branches operate at a loss – have prompted the closures.

At the end of the six-week local public consultation period, with all the feedback reviewed, a final decision will be made by Post Office Ltd and the changes implemented only after a minimum of four weeks’ notice has been provided to customers.