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£35k to prevent a 'hammer blow'
A COUNCILLOR is calling for £35,000 of taxpayers money to be pumped into saving a post office earmarked for closure.
Coun Mary Fleet has written to Mayor Stuart Drummond asking for Hartlepool Borough Council to save the Raby Estate post office in Chatham Road.
The Post Office have been tasked with closing 2,500 sites across the country and there are three in Hartlepool earmarked for closure.
The Raby Estate post office is one of them, and Coun Fleet believes any closure would be a "hammer blow to the community."
Coun Fleet, who represents Labour on the Dyke House ward, wants the mayor to set up a clear and effective business plan, and she believes 35,000 would be enough to save it from closure.
Mayor Drummond said nothing had been ruled out but he believed it was up to the Government to fund post offices.
Coun Fleet said "Right across the country, local authorities are expressing an interest in running threatened post offices and I don't see why we can't do that in Hartlepool.
"The Raby Estate post office is a vital lifeline to the Dyke House community and to lose it would be a devastating blow to us all.
"I am prepared to do anything to stop this closure, no options should be ignored and that is why I've asked Mayor Drummond to urgently look at what the council can do."
Coun Fleet believes the council should be following the example set by their Essex counterparts in a bid to save those post offices threatened.
Essex Council have set aside 1.5m of council taxpayers' money to save 15 local branches and it claims up to 50 other councils have already contacted them for advice.
Essex Council plans to spend 18,000 a year subsidising branches in the hope they will become self-sufficient in three years.
Coun Fleet added: "If you look at the examples set by other local authorities, it seems reasonable to suggest that a sum of around 35,000 would be enough to take over the Raby Estate post office.
"With a robust business plan and diversification of services that incorporate council functions, I am quite sure this venture would end up being at least cost neutral to the council."
Mayor Drummond said: "At this stage I'm not ruling out anything and I have said before we are leaving no stone unturned in this consultation period.
"The general principle to expect the council to take up the running of something that the Government should be funding is wrong anyway.
"The burden of funding the post offices should not fall on the local authority and they should remain funded by the Government."
For more information about the proposals for Hartlepool and the surrounding area log on to www.postoffice.co.uk
PROTECT YOUR POST OFFICE: Click the link to our online petition to add your support
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Weather for Hartlepool
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: East
