Consultation opens on plans to move Bognor Post Office

If it goes ahead, a branch would be created within the WHSmith’s store on London Road which would offer ‘a same wide range of Post Office services’ seven days a week.

Roger Gale, general manager of the Post Office Crown Network, said: “We are committed to keeping our services on the high street which we know is hugely important to people. This proposal means we can continue to do that, into the future.”

The branch, listed as ‘220 metres from its current site’, would see Bognor Regis follow in the footsteps of many others.

Mr Gale said: “WHSmith already operates around 100 Post Office branches from their stores in the UK and we’ve been successfully working with them for nearly ten years.”

He added: “Customers will be offered the same range of services (with the exception of cash machine), with more convenient and longer opening hours, including Sundays.”

The Post Office will be inviting customers and interested parties to give their comments on the proposed move in a public consultation that starts today.

Mr Gale explained the proposal ‘would help secure long-term viability’, stated ‘we are making sure we take the right action to sustain services for years to come’ and said ‘we must adapt to the changing needs of our customers’.

Subject to consultation, the new Bognor Regis Post Office branch would have four serving positions, a mixture of two screened and two open-plan counters. Opening hours would be 9am – 5.30pm Monday to Saturday and 10am - 2pm on Sundays.

The statement added ‘existing staff at Bognor Regis current branch have the right to transfer their employment to WHSmith if they wish to do so, in line with TUPE legislation. All options will be discussed with them individually so they can make informed decisions about their future and are supported in those decisions’.

Public consultation ends on September 14 with the proposed branch move listed for November 2016.

Views can be provided during the consultation in the following ways:

on the website: postofficeviews.co.uk,

by email: [email protected],

by phone: 03457 22 33 44 (Textphone 03457 22 33 55),

by post: FREEPOST Your Comments.

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