CUSTOMERS in a rural village may soon have a new post office.
Shelley Post Office on Far Bank closed in October last year following the resignation of the subpostmaster and the premises no longer being used as a post office.
But a new service could now be offered a few hundred yards down the road from the old post office in the local village hall in Huddersfield Road.
The Post Office has started a six-week consultation period on the proposals which could start in April.
It would be operated as a hosted outreach service by Marion Davidson, who has been subpostmistress at Kirkburton for the past five and half years.
She previously worked with her husband at a city centre post office in Bradford. “Moving a post office to an outreach service at a venue such as a village hall is quite common in rural areas and has been tried and tested before and proved to be very successful,” said Mrs Davidson.
“I am a familiar face to people having worked at Kirkburton and although the post office will only be open a few hours each week, there will be an increase in the facilities available to customers including foreign currency and travel insurance and motor vehicle licences.”
The service at Shelley would run on Mondays and Tuesdays between 9.30am and 12.30pm and Thursdays between 1.30pm and 4.30pm.
The service at Kirkburton remains unaffected.
Field change adviser Liz Morgan said: “After exploring a number of options, we have concluded that the establishments of an outreach service will help to secure the future of Post Office services in the village in the longer term.
“Customers would still have access to a wide range of products and services, including free personal banking, foreign currencies and travel insurance and benefits payments in cash, plus motor vehicle licences.”
