Office revamp to address 'lack of postal facilities'

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Improvements will be made to Cambridge’s main post office after complaints and an embarrassing admission that there was a “lack of postal facilities”.

Since the St Andrew’s Street branch, pictured, opened last year it has been plagued by overcrowding. Now the size of an internal meeting room will be reduced to create more public space.

Access has also been a problem, particularly for disabled people, so a planning application has been submitted to replace the swing door with a larger sliding door.

The request also envisages the fitting of a post box on the outside wall so residents can send letters when the office is closed, with the application conceding that the new branch suffers from a “lack of postal facilities”.

The old post office, which is now Barclays Bank on the other side of St Andrew’s Street, was much larger – at 800 sq m compared to 270 sq m – and had two post boxes set in its frontage which have now been removed.

Cllr Tim Bick, who represents Market on Cambridge City Council, raised customers’ concerns with Post Office bosses last year.

He said yesterday: “Since the move to the new location last year many people have raised concerns on the space and ease of use of the new building.

“We took these concerns to the Post Office and I am pleased to say that they listened.

“These changes seem sensible and practical responses to the problems we raised and I hope they will greatly improve the service provided to people visiting the branch.”

Internal works will start within the next couple of months, while the new door and external post box will be fitted once planning permission is granted.

A request to fit a pavement-mounted post box in St Andrew’s Street was rejected due to the width of the path.

Branch manager Andrew Welsh said: “We are concerned our customers have experienced problems with ease of access and the service area available in the branch.

“Whether customers visit us to withdraw cash, pay their bills or post a letter we hope they will be pleased by the proposed improvements.”