FOUR village post offices in the Daventry area are listed for closure under plans revealed this week.
Badby, Staverton, Newnham and Church Stowe are all facing losing their post offices.
A fight has been launched to keep Staverton Post Office open and to shut Hellidon’s branch instead.
Christina Yates, postmistress at Staverton, said: “We’ve as
ked the Post Office if it would be possible to swap the decision around, but I don’t know how successful we will be.”
People have until January 10 to give their views in a consultation and post office customers in Staverton are being encouraged to make their opinions known.
Pam Webb is 68 and a customer of Staverton Post Office. She said: “I’ve always banked at the post office.
“If it shuts in Staverton I will have to travel into Daventry by bus to get my money.
“And then when you’re in Daventry you don’t know how long you’re going to have to queue at the post office there.
“Shutting the post office will devastate the village. I feel like our village is dying, and in this day and age you shouldn’t feel like that at all.”
Jenifer Fell, postmistress at Hellidon, said: “I’m offering myself for closure if Staverton remains open.
“Staverton has lots of elderly people living in social housing and there are people who don’t have cars.
“In Hellidon I would guess the average is two cars per household – even people in the village drive to my shop.
“My average customer base is less than four a day. At Staverton Christina gets between 20 and 30 a day.”
Customers from Badby, Staverton and Newnham will be expected to travel into Daventry for post office facilities, while those from Church Stowe will be expected to go to Weedon.
In Newnham villagers are also in line to lose their shop, which has been combined with the post office for several years.
Newnham postmaster Barry Pinson said: “My customers are upset, they’ve taken the leaflets away to see if they can do anything to help.
“The majority use us for benefits and to pay bills
“If they close us, then it’s likely the shop will go as well.”
Vanessa Curtis, from Newnham Parish Council, said: “We’re obviously very disappointed – Newnham is a well-used post office and a lot of people in the village use its services and it will be sorely missed.
“I know a number of elderly people that use its banking facilities and they are very disappointed that it’s likely to close.”
The list of post offices threatened with closure across Northamptonshire was released by the Post Office on Tuesday.
People wanting to express their views should write to Mark Partington, network development manager, c/o national consultation team, Freepost consultation team, or email consultation @postoffice.co.uk.
