Holme Wood battle to re-open Post Office (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Holme Wood battle to re-open Post Office

8:10am Monday 7th March 2011 in Bradford By James Rush

A Bradford vicar is spearheading a campaign to re-open a post office which serves thousands of people on one of the country’s biggest housing estates.

The post office at The Parade, Broadstone Way, Holme Wood, has been forced to close, following the resignation of the temporary sub-postmaster.

The Post Office has apologised for the situation and said it hoped the closure would be temporary.

But the Reverend Canon Gordon Dey, the Vicar of Holme Wood, said: “I am appalled that there are no longer post office services available for people who live in this community.

“Many of them are people who don’t have access to private transport, so the difficulty to them is being able to access alternative post office services.

“Many of them are disabled, or they might have small children – they need to have a locally-accessible post office.

“This has been in the past a post office which was extraordinarily busy and can be again, if it is run in a way that is reliable and effective.

“In recent times there has been a decline in the reliability and effectiveness of the post office in Holme Wood that has led to the closure. There are a substantial amount of people who are complaining to me about the loss of the post office and it’s time it was sorted out.”

A Post Office spokesman said work was continuing to try to provide a service to the estate.

He said: “Customers can be assured that we will continue to work to find a solution that will provide a post office service to the Holme Wood estate community."

• Read the full story in Monday's T&A