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Central Morpeth office top priority
RETAINING a central Morpeth post office is a top priority, officials insist.
Eight branches across the Borough have been placed under threat of closure or replacement with outreach services as part of a national Network Change Programme.
In some cases the Post Office has listed the Morpeth town centre outlet in Back Riggs as an alternative facility, but fears are mounting over the future of the branch as its franchise will expire in October.
So far no partner has been enlisted to take on the service and no alternative premises have been found.
Now calls are being made to postpone the consultation on branch closures across the Borough until a firm solution is found.
Borough and Town councillor David Parker told Post Office bosses this week that deferring the process could be the only option.
"You are saying you want to retain the Back Riggs post office, but the franchise is up on October 31. This is a very serious matter," he said.
"You virtually agreed with me when I said the consultation in the Morpeth area is based on a false premise, which is that St Mary's Field and Mitford post offices can close and the alternative branch is the one in Back Riggs. That has a very uncertain future at the moment so you can't offer it as an alternative.
"What we don't want on November 1 is to find there will be no main post office in Morpeth.
"Wherever the central office goes it is going to take some time to fit it out. You can't just put it in the back of a shop because your own figures show it has 3,500 transactions a week. What are you going to do about that?
"We need to have answers. We need you to say you are going to withdraw the Morpeth consultation until you can make an announcement about Morpeth Post Office."
Post Office Regional Officer Matt Silcock said he was fully aware of the issue, but the consultation would go on.
And Field Change Adviser Ian Carlton said he was doing all in his power to retain the central service.
"To say that the Post Office likes the idea of there being no branch in Morpeth is ridiculous. Nobody has worked harder than myself to try to find a replacement for the franchise," said Mr Carlton.
"I'm aware of what is happening in St Mary's Field and Mitford, but my job is to solve the problems in Morpeth at the main town centre post office. I can't say any more than that.
"My job is to make sure that Morpeth does not lose the town centre service and I'm doing everything in my power to keep it open.
"The issue of St Mary's Field is an entirely different matter."
Mr Carlton said one of the biggest obstacles to his task is the lack of suitable premises for the branch and he ruled out a return to the former Oldgate site.
"The problem we have in Morpeth is finding suitable premises. There are no suitable premises available outside of Back Riggs," he said.
"We asked the developer if we could stay on site and the developer was not keen to allow that.
"We have approached various functions of the Council to see if we can get help, but as yet we still don't have a definite property for the post office to go in to.
"The Royal Mail building is used for Royal Mail purposes and Royal Mail wouldn't want us to ask if we could use that as a post office. We no longer have any call to re-introduce that service there."
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Weather for Morpeth
Wednesday 30 May 2012
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 10 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 8 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
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