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THE fight to get a post office service back in Wimborne continues, with campaigners saying they need a new postal box in the town centre for both residents and visitors alike.
Officials at East Dorset District Council have said the cordon around the fire damaged buildings in the High Street cannot be moved to exclude the post box outside Martin’s newsagents because of health and safety concerns.
Town councillor Anthony Oliver said: “We can foresee it’s going to be up to two years before the old post office is up and running again.
“We need a temporary box. There is room between the bus shelter and the Wimborne In Bloom flower tower for a box.
“The post van could pull up beside the planter and empty the box. It is very close to the existing box.”
Prospective parliamentary candidate Nick King and councillor Robin Cook have been gathering petition signatures to get the post office service restored quickly.
Mr King said many people were asking where they could post letters.
“Within Wimborne town centre there is a high proportion of flats and units for elderly people.
“I have seen in the past them put up temporary post boxes.
“Why can’t they do something about it?”
Cllr Robin Cook has written to Royal Mail urging them to act.
He said: “While I understand the difficulties I suspect they are more concentrated within the bureaucracy than getting the job done of putting a post box in.”
Meanwhile staff at the Tourist Information Centre in the town are accepting mail from elderly residents and visitors and posting it for them.
Manager Rosemary McDonald said: “There are people who find it difficult to walk the distance.
“For the people who are too elderly or visitors who don’t know where the post box is we take their items to the post box, to help people out.”
There is still a postal box at the East Street delivery office, the former base for the post office before it moved into the High Street.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We have investigated the possibility of installing a temporary box whilst the one on the Wimborne Post Office site is out of service, unfortunately our request has been declined.
“We intend to get the box back into service as soon as we can. In the meantime customers can post at the nearby Delivery Office in East Street or at the Riverside Business Park.”