19 post offices are spared axe (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

19 post offices are spared axe

4:56am Tuesday 13th May 2008 in

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Only one post office in Shipley will close under plans to axe 2,500 branches.

Shipley MP Philip Davies has been told St Paul's Road branch will shut as part of the closure programme, but the other 19 post offices in his Shipley constituency appear to have escaped the axe.

Mr Davies said: "Given that one in six nationally are closing I am obviously relieved only one is closing in my constituency and I am delighted they are planning to retain all the others, particularly in the villages. However, closing the St Paul's Road branch will be a blow to residents and to businesses."

Mr Davies said he fears queues will get worse at the main branch with the additional influx of customer.

The news comes after Post Office Minister Pat McFadden insisted the closures were necessary as the network is still losing half-a-million-pounds a day. He said the speed and scale of technological development in the UK were connected to the changes facing the post office network.