North Essex: County bucks post office closure trend (From Gazette)

North Essex: County bucks post office closure trend

9:29am Friday 25th April 2008 in News

About 20 post offices Essex could be reopened in the next few months as part of a groundbreaking county council lifeline.

Speaking in the House of Lords, Essex County Council leader Lord Hanningfield said the council was also working with the Post Office to prevent other branches being closed in future.

It was confirmed that two axed branches are set to re-open - in West Clacton and Little Hallingbury - as a result of the council's help. It is not yet clear where the other branches are and if any will be in the Colchester area.

threatened He said: "There is a real future for local post offices, but I believe that they will be - and probably should be - part of a local government network of services.

"We will do what we can in our community."

He told his fellow lords about how the council decided "enough was enough" when 30 Essex post office closures were announced before Christmas, and a further 40 post offices were threatened.

"In Essex, when these potential closures were announced at the end of last year, we thought that we had to do something different about it."

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