Mystery surrounds future of town Post Office

MYSTERY surrounds the future of a new Post Office branch in Westbury, after the vacancy was removed from the Post Office Ltd website. No information about what is happening next has been made available, despite attempts by the town council and White Horse News to find out more.
Since the closure in October last year of the town’s main post office, the Westbury community has waited for news as to when it would be replaced.
The most recent update from Post Office Ltd in March explained that they were scaling down the Post Office opportunity in Westbury from a main style branch to a two-position local-style branch because of concerns that the large amount of space needed for a main style branch was putting off interested parties.
The removal of the vacancy from the Post Office Ltd website, has sparked fresh hopes that a deal is close to being made to open a new Post Office branch. However, there is also speculation that it could be a website error, or that Post Office Ltd no longer intend to proceed with the plans for a new branch.
Town clerk, Deborah Urch, says that she has been trying to get more information from Post Office Ltd since the beginning of June, but has received no response to any of her emails. “It’s really bad,” she said, “I’ve now written to their CEO to raise my concerns.”
Expressing his concerns, Mayor of Westbury, cllr Ian Cunningham said, “Previously the town council had a named contact at the Post Office who was in contact with the clerk, keeping us informed. But that person has left and since then, there has been no-one looking after it.
“Mysteriously the vacancy for the Westbury Post Office is no longer listed on the website – we don’t know why this is, it could be that it is a website error, there could be someone close to taking over the vacancy.
“It’s disappointing that we have had no news. It could be great news that someone is taking over or if it is an error, it’s disappointing as interested parties won’t see it on the website and will think that it has gone. I wouldn’t want people to think that they are giving up on Westbury.
“The Post Office has previously said that they were confident that it would get a commercial pick-up, so it’s odd that there’s been no word.”
White Horse News approached Post Office Ltd for an update on the future of a post office in Westbury but was told by a spokesperson that they were ‘struggling’ to find information as key people involved were on annual leave.
“Two months ago I know that we had some interest locally and we were in discussions with a potential new operator,” said the spokesperson for Post Office Ltd, “but this was at an early stage. I don’t know what the current situation is. Any relocation would be subject to public consultation.”