Post Office Update(2)
A
further meeting was held with Officers of Herefordshire Council on Thursday 26th
July.
As
no current retail outlets in the village has come forward to take on the Post
Office, which is Post Offices Ltd preferred option, and no other ready made
location can be found, our only option at present is to consider structural
changes to the Library building. Herefordshire Libraries has agreed to this in
principle; however we need to agree with them how their requirements can be
accommodated with the provision of replacement space. Therefore to accommodate
the Post Office we will have to - extend the current library (at a cost), plus develop
a separate but linked room to create the Post Office (at a cost), equip the new
room to the standards laid down by Post Office Ltd (at a cost estimated to be
between £25k and £30k) and pay Post Office Ltd the initial Post Office Licence
Fee (currently £7K, which we hope would be negotiable). In addition, we need to
discuss with the Charities Commission as to whether, under the current
objectives of the Walwyn Meadow Trust, we can operate a Social
The
financial requirement to do all above changes needs to be quantified. We will
therefore be approaching local people with the relevant skills and expertise to
help us have a better understanding of the costs involved.
Once
we have quantified the financial figures we must then determine the structure and
method of operation for the Post Office e.g. (Social Enterprise or Private
Business) which will then help us determine whether there are funding sources
available to us.
Until
we have obtained all the above and developed a Business Plan we are not in a
position to give Parishioners a positive indication as to a quick re-opening of
the Post Office. As you can see from the identified work mentioned above, this
is not going to be an inexpensive option.
30th July 2007