Saving one post office will close another

Campaigners have been warned that saving one of the five threatened post offices around Bognor Regis will condemn another to closure.

The news that one in three of the branches in the area are set to shut has alarmed their thousands of users.

A six-week consultation period about the proposals will close on March 10. A final decision is expected the final month with closures taking place in May.

The axe threatens Craigweil PO in Barrack Lane, Aldwick; Tudor News PO in Aldwick Street, Aldwick; Station Road PO, Bognor; South Bersted PO, Gordon Avenue; 53 Hawthorn Road, Bognor.

The Post Office's south east network development manager, told Gary Herbert them the number of closures would stay the same even if the protests were successful.

"If we take branches out of the plans, in most cases we have to replace them with other branches."

They might not be in the same area but they would be in the broader region in which the local branches were included.

It was inevitable that a town, such as Bognor, with such a large concentration of branches, would be hit hard by the slimming-down of the network.

"We may be proposing to close five branches but we are also proposing to leave 11," he pointed out.

Mr Herbert said the closures resulted from a government decision last May to fund a post office network with 2,500 branches fewer. Nationally, this means one in five closing.