Churches urged not to miss post

St Bega's, Eskdale, in the Diocese of Carlisle, decided to host a post office when its local office closed in March 2006

Parish churches are being urged 'not to miss the last post' and get ready to move fast if they want to grasp the opportunity to maintain a post office in their community.

In the last edition of In Review, we reported on how churches are taking advantage of the opportunities presented by the major changes taking place throughout the post office network.

The controversial plans include the potential closure of 2,500 post offices, with around 500 of these being replaced by 'hosted' post offices.

The Cathedral and Church Buildings Division of the Church of England – alongside the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church – has been working with the Post Office to identify opportunities for suitable church buildings to host such post offices, in order to maintain a presence for these vital services, particularly in isolated rural communities.

There are currently at least three post offices being hosted in Church of England churches, and several others in Methodist chapels across the country.

Recently, the first of the Post Office's National Area Plans were published – beginning a phased launch of approximately 50 plans to cover the whole country.

These plans set out which offices are to close, and where 'outreach' offices are needed to meet the access criteria demanded by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

The plans are first opened up for consultation with PostWatch and wider public consultation, including local MPs, over a 12-week period. Six weeks of local public consultation will then follow, before a final decision is taken by Post Office Ltd.

If an Area Plan proposes a replacement hosted post office, any community building – including churches and chapels – will have only a few weeks in which to express a firm interest in being a host building and making a commitment to taking on this responsibility. 

For information on the Area Plans' timetable and how to respond visit www.postoffice.co.uk and click on 'Network Change Programme'.

www.cofe.anglican.org/about/cathandchurchbuild