The Parish Council has recently met with The Post Office and continues to demand that post office services are restored to the village without delay.
Here is the latest correspondence; any updates will be forwarded to AudlemOnline for publication.
Audlem Parish Council
14 October 2016
Dear Heather
Audlem Post Office
Further to our meeting to discuss the temporary closure of Audlem Post Office.
The provision of a Post Office service to our customers in the local community is important to us, and we will continue to work to restore service in the area. We remain committed to a Post Office service in Audlem and are working to find a solution that would enable us to restore Post Office services to the village and surrounding communities.
Whilst we remain committed to a Post Office service in Audlem we do need a partner willing to operate the branch alongside their retail business.
The opportunity at Audlem is being advertised on our website www.runapostoffice.co.uk and we would welcome interest from existing retailers in Audlem, or anyone looking to set up a retail venture in the village, who would like to incorporate the Post Office alongside their business.
We have approached a number of potential retailers in the village, and spoken to an interested party looking to establish a business in Audlem, but sadly to date we have been unable to progress a solution.
As discussed there are other ways to provide Post Office services namely an Outreach service. An Outreach is an option to provide Post Office services on reduced hours, typically from a community building, and would provide access to Post Office services to those customers who find it more difficult to access alternative branches in the area. The service would be provided by an existing Post Office operator in the wider area who would visit Audlem at set days and times.
The establishment of an Outreach service is dependent on us finding a Core agent willing to run the service and suitable premises to operate from. I would like to thank you for the suggestions of possible premises, and the contact details for the groups who manage them, which we will follow up should we need to pursue this option.
I would like to apologise for the inconvenience the temporary closure is causing but I would reiterate that we remain committed to a Post Office in Audlem and are working to restore services to the community.
I will of course keep you updated as the situation develops.
Yours sincerely
Richard Hall
Public Affairs Manager
Audlem Parish Council's response to this letter can be read by clicking on the PDF below the photo or below:
Dear Richard
AUDLEM POST OFFICE
Thank you for your letter dated 14th October 2016 following our meeting on 4th October.
I have to say that the Parish Council is extremely disappointed and angry at the continued promises but lack of action in restoring the Post Office service in Audlem. The letter that you sent was broadly similar to the last one that we received. It is now six months since the Post Office closed and still there appears to be no solution on the horizon. As we said at the meeting, this length of time is not acceptable.
You state in your letter that you "have approached a number of potential retailers in the village". When speaking to village retailers, this statement does not appear to ring true – or if it does, they must be telling me a different story. Indeed, I have spoken to the Chairman of the Audlem Traders' Group, who confirms that he is not aware of Post Office Ltd having approached any retailer in the village. Perhaps your Outreach Team can advise us who has been approached.
During the meeting you agreed to include in your letter the list of actions that Post Office Ltd will undertake to solve the problem. Disappointingly, these actions are not there.
Patience is now running thin and the impression that we get is that Post Office Ltd is just going through the motions in order to placate us. We had hoped that following our meeting things would be seen to be moving forward. Unfortunately this doesn't appear to be the case. We ask that you arrange for Denise Knott-Brown, your newly-appointed Field Manager, to come to meet Parish Councillors as soon as possible so that progress can be made on re-establishing a Post Office service here.
Yours sincerely
pp K Dixon
AUDLEM PARISH COUNCIL
cc Antoinette Sandbach MP
cc Cllr Rachel Bailey, Leader Cheshire East Council
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