Free parking part of post office action plan (Torbay)

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TORBAY Council has revealed its action plan for assisting post offices ahead of the next feared round of cutbacks in 2011.

One idea is for free short term parking outside post offices.

And the plan will also ensure that all council bills, including penalty charge notices, can be paid at any post office branch.

Torbay mayor Nick Bye's action plan has been criticised by the Liberal Democrat councillors for not going far enough. They tried to 'call in' the action plan but Mr Bye accused them of time wasting.

The council says it is introducing the changes with the aim of allowing post offices to expand and attract more customers. Mr Bye has also pledged to continue lobbying for the future of post offices at a national, regional and local level.

The council's action plan states: "If we do nothing, we may be in the position of losing post offices in the next post office network review in 2011, and this would have an adverse effect on our communities.

"Post offices are community assets, and we welcome the approaches to support them that we have seen.

"If services can be delivered via post offices it will reduce the carbon footprint, as people will not have to travel to council offices but can access services within their own communities."

The council's transportation working party will look at the possibility of reviewing parking policy to enable short-term free parking and easy access to post office branches, where possible.

The action plan says it will enable post offices to work with public sector bodies, social housing providers and voluntary sectors to explore services.

The proposed action plan adds: "It is not appropriate for the Government to dictate to local authorities the extent to which they provide services through the post office network.

"However, we believe more could be done to raise awareness of the potential of the network.

"Post Office Ltd should take the lead in developing services that can be easily accessed by local authorities.

"It should then work with the Local Government Association to ensure that every local authority is provided with information about the services post offices can offer."