Post office branches set to close

Campaigners have fought to save rural post offices

Twenty-nine post offices are to close across Yorkshire.

Royal Mail is to axe 22 branches in North Yorkshire and six in West Yorkshire. East Yorkshire will lose one on Marine Drive, Bridlington.

The closures are part of a wider plan, which was first announced in November, to reduce the number of branches nationally by up to 2,500.

Only the branch on Cold Bath Road, Harrogate, which had been earmarked for closure, has been given a reprieve.

The local post office was saved after 11,000 residents signed a petition against the closure.

These are difficult decisions which have not been taken lightly Adrian Wales, Post Office

But the Post Office said retaining the Cold Bath Road branch, meant another must close on Aspin Lane, Knaresborough.

The office will now face a six-week consultation before a final decision is made in April.

Post Office bosses claim the plans mean that 99% of the population will be within a mile of an alternative branch.

An additional 12 in South Yorkshire had been named on the proposed closure list, but these have yet to been confirmed.

Adrian Wales, the Post Office development manager, said: "These are difficult decisions which have not been taken lightly.

"We believe that the amended plan announced today offers our customers in this area the best prospect for a sustainable network in the future."