It strikes me that the Chamber of Trade and the Council would both be much better employed in helping the 'tireless search' of the local Post Office officials, to find a suitable central location for the thing we really need in the town centre: A Post Office. Now — before it's too late. It's not as if no-one knew it was going to be a problem from day one.

The comments made by POC Ltd (Post Office Counters), officials tend to suggest that the most obvious place for a relocated PO (back where it should never have moved from in Oldgate), has been discarded as a possibility without proper discussion, but rather on the basis of an assumption that Royal Mail 'would not be interested'. Odd, when you consider the advantages that it offers it and the vested interest it must have. As a generator of trade on the high street in general a Post Office is often much underrated.

On the other hand, we have the prospect of 250 new jobs on the edge of Morpeth in a location where many could walk or cycle to work and all could park (at no cost), a town centre filled with speciality shops offering goods and services not available in a supermarket, three supermarkets (Lidl, Morrison and Sainsbury) plus M&S Food, competing with each other to give best value. What a dream.

Where is the downside for the consumer? Be they local or tourist, there isn't one. Competition is healthy and benefits the consumer, monopoly on the other hand is not.

The recently mentioned, and now out of date surveys, took little account of the people who currently shop in Cramlington, Kingston Park or on the Internet; they need to have a reason to come back and currently there isn't one.

And still in the background and little talked about are the potential loss both the Library and Hospital from their current sites. Oh and that bit of remaining free town centre parking that is currently illegal to use, which no-one seems to want to talk about.

Perhaps these are topics, just too politically hot right now to be considered fit for discussion, the elections being over and all.
Anyone got a view?

BOB ROBERTSON
Morpeth