Calls for change to rural post office closures

A post office branch opened after a campaign by residents

Rules should change to allow local people to have more of a say on closures of rural post office counters, an MP has said.

Some mobile outreach services have been cut in north Cumbria in recent months, but people in the county have said local post office branches are important.

Briony Newsome, who chairs the group that runs Shap swimming pool, said the expected loss of the village post office in December would be a blow.

The Post Office said it understood the importance of rural branches and met its obligations to serve people in the country side.

The Labour MP for Carlisle Julie Minns said the Post Office should consult communities first.

"What I want to see change is that the same way you consult on the closure of a permanent branch, you consult in exactly the same way on the closure of an outreach service," Minns said.

A Post Office counter within Shap Village Store reopened in May last year, following a campaign by local residents.

But the shop owners announced in the summer the facility would close in December after it "became clear that targets are not being met".

Ms Newsome said the post office branch was important for people in Shap

Ms Newsome said the group had been banking at the post office and the closure would mean a long journey to the nearest Barclays branch.

"We're going to have to go to Kendal if no one does buy the shop and takes it over," she said.

"For our time to to do a 30-mile round trip rather than a task that can take you less than five minutes, it's quite a big ask really."

The shop and post office have been described as a "lifeline" for people in the village.

"We have an older generation in Shap that probably a lot of them don't even use the mobile phone," Ms Newsome said.

"So to be able to go down and get the money out...and the staff know them. You don't get that in a lot of bigger places."

The store's proprietors previously said they hoped a new owner could be found.

A spokesman for the Post Office said back in August they were sorry to hear the current postmistress had chosen to resign and were advertising the opportunity.