Post office blow as plan collapses

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POSTAL chiefs have been criticised after a plan to install a sub-post office at the ASDA store in the Brighton Hill area of Basingstoke fell through.

The Brighton Hill sub-post office shut its doors on June 18 last year after McColl’s convenience store, in which it was sited, decided not to renew its lease at the Brighton Hill Centre.

The negotiations with ASDA started after Basingstoke MP Maria Miller suggested the move.

In a statement, ASDA property communications mana-ger Tom McGarry outlined why the plan had not worked. He said: “During the last six months we have explored a number of designs and ways in which we could try and accommodate the branch within the store. Despite our best efforts, due to limited space, we have had to conclude it would not be possible.”

After hearing the latest news, Mrs Miller said the failure of the negotiations continued to cause inconvenience for local people. She said: “Post Office services in Basingstoke are at crisis point. The impact of the most recent closures in Brookvale and Old Basing are compounded by the loss of the Brighton Hill sub-post office.

“The Post Office has to wake up to the fact they have made a cut too far and that services are now below what residents should expect.”

Councillor Brian Gurden, who represents the Brighton Hill area on borough and county councils, slammed the Post Office for failing to resurrect what had been a profit-making sub-post office.

He said: “Throughout this time there have also been shop units lying empty at the Brighton Hill Centre. The Post Office rightly gets a lot of bad publicity when it closes rural post offices, but sitting around dithering and not re-instating their profitable business outlets makes me ask if the Post Office is fit for purpose any more.”

Jaquie Stenson, external relations manager at Royal Mail Group, the Post Office’s parent company, said: “We would like to apologise to customers for the length of time it is taking to resolve the situation at Brighton Hill.

“We had been in advanced discussions with a local retailer but unfortunately they have now decided not to proceed.”