A public consultation has been launched on relocating a city centre post office in a bid to safeguard services.
The Post Office has proposed to move its branch in Central Village to St John’s Market where it would continue to operate as one of its main locations in Liverpool. A six-week engagement exercise will now take place, seeking views from residents on the planned move.
In its reasoning for the move, the Post Office said it was important postmasters, who operate their branches alongside private businesses, “make the very best use of their resources to ensure future sustainability of both their business and the Post Office service. In this case, the postmaster has identified an opportunity to move this branch into an alternative new location to continue to offer Post Office services to the community in Central Village.”
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The new branch, a third of a mile across the city, would occupy a currently vacant empty lot in St John’s Market and undergo a full refurbishment to incorporate a Stationery and Cards store with Central Village Post Office. In it’s online consultation letter, the Post Office said: “The postmaster firmly believes that the move will help secure continued access to Post Office services locally, as well as supporting the viability of their business.
“Our priority is to safeguard our services in the locality in the longer term and the relocation of Central Village Post Office would enable us to maintain a Post Office service to our customers in the local community.” Opening hours would not change under the new proposals, remaining at 9am until 5.30pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 2pm on Saturdays.
The same range of products and services would continue to be available. The current branch has an external Post Office branded cash machine, but the company does not yet know whether it will be able to transfer this facility to the new site.
At the end of the consultation process, the Post Office intends to write to elected representatives, consumer advocacy Bodies and respondents to the consultation to confirm its decision and provide a summary of key issues raised with a clear response to each. The plans have been welcomed by city centre Labour councillors who took to Twitter.
They said: “We've campaigned for a long time for a Post Office at St John's. This will increase footfall and boost St John’s Market.”
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