A RE-THINK is being urged after a Post Office in Bradford was relocated to an area it is claimed will 'underserve' thousands of people.

The Post Office has defended relocating the branch to Eccleshill, which they say 'restores service to the community'.

Local councillors and a subpostmaster have hit out at the Post Office about relocating the Gain Lane Post Office to a new location on Harrogate Road - just half a mile from the existing Harrogate Road Post Office at Wharncliffe Drive.

Cllr Geoff Reid (Lib Dem, Eccleshill) said: "Residents in the Fagley area and those living near Five Lane Ends have seen two Post Offices closed 'temporarily' in the past few years.

"Now the Gain Lane post office will 're-open' on Harrogate Road."

The Post Office, however, confirmed the new branch opened this week, restoring service to the community.

A spokesperson for the Post Office said: "Eccleshill Post Office opened Wednesday at JAS Convenience Store, 119 Harrogate Road, restoring Post Office service to the community.

"The previous Gain Lane Post Office at 14 Gain Lane, Fagley, temporarily closed in 2019. Now the new branch is known as Eccleshill."

Clllr Reid said: "The new location will be too far away to serve many in the Fagley area and instead will be just a few bus stops from the existing Post Office on the end of Wharncliffe Drive.

"Having two located so close together doesn't improve services for residents across Eccleshill, it reduces them.

"We share the local subpostmaster’s concerns that in the long run this decision could threaten the viability of both post offices as they compete for the same customers."

Cllr Reid added: “As local councillors, we are calling on the Post Office to think again and re-open the Gain Lane post office in the area it used to serve, and to restore a Post Office branch in the Five Lane ends area too.”

Harrogate Road subpostmaster David Carr, a third generation subpostmaster, agrees about the proposed new site and said: “The new location on Harrogate Road will have a direct impact on my business, which has already been hit hard by the pandemic.

"We will have two post offices serving a few thousand people while thousands more will permanently lose local post office services.

"Restoring services at Five Lane Ends and Fagley would have less impact on us and would better serve the wider community that is currently underserved by a post office.”

Both Mr Carr and Cllr Reid are urging local residents to demand the Post Office halt plans to establish the new branch just half a mile away on the same road, as they claim it would undermine the Post Office at Wharncliffe Drive and could result in the Eccleshill area having no post offices in the years to come.

People can sign a petition online at tinyurl.com/PostOfficePetition

The relocated Eccleshill Post Office branch opening hours will be Monday to Saturday from 9am to 6pm and Sunday from 9am to 4pm, offering 61 hours of Post Office service a week for customers.

Richard Clark, Post Office Network Provision Lead, said: “We know how important a Post Office is to a community and we are delighted to have restored Post Office service to the community.”