Post Office names Dorset closures

The Post Office said 162 branches would remain open

The Post Office has announced it is to close 26 branches in Dorset, following a seven-week public consultation.

The closures are part of a plan to close 2,500 branches nationwide by the end of the year because ministers say the network has been losing £4m a week.

Twenty-two branches will close completely in Dorset, while four will be replaced by "outreach" services.

The Post Office said 162 branches would remain in the county, and that 99% of residents would see no change.

The first closures are due to take place in October.

Proposals for the Ministry of Defence's Blandford Camp site and Buxton Road, Weymouth, were currently "under further review", and decisions would be announced shortly, the Post Office said.

Area Plan Decision [36KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here

The Post Office received 1,500 responses during the public consultation and held 17 meetings with customers.

Tim Nickolls, Post Office Ltd's network development manager for Dorset, said: "These are difficult decisions, which have not been taken lightly.

"We have considered very carefully all the comments made during the public consultation.

"We believe that the amended plan announced today offers our customers across Dorset the best prospect for a sustainable network in the future, bearing in mind the government's minimum access criteria and the other factors it has asked us to consider."

Branches that will close include those in Sandbanks, Worth Matravers, Salisbury Road in Blandford Forum, Monmouth Road in Dorchester and Kittwhistle, near Beaminster.

Mobile service

Branches in Buckhorn Weston, near Gillingham, Buckland Newton, near Dorchester, Chettle, near Blandford Forum and at Kings Stag Garage, near Sturminster Newton, will be replaced by outreach services.

This could include a mobile service visiting at set times, the Post Office has previously said.

The government announced the nationwide wave of 2,500 closures in December 2006 following a 12-week national consultation.

It said four million fewer people were using the current 14,000-strong network each week than two years earlier.

The first wave of proposed branch closures were announced in October 2007 in Kent, East Midlands, the East Yorkshire area and North Lincolnshire.