Colchester Crown Post Office to stay

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 15th May 2007

Colchester MP Bob Russell today welcomed the announcement by the Post Office that the town centre Crown Post Office is not to close.

Fears had been expressed that Colchester could lose its Crown Post Office after it was announced that the Crown Post Office in Chelmsford was among 70 such offices across the country which were to shut with the business transferred to branches of W.H. Smith.

Today Mr Russell revealed that he had received a letter from Melanie Corfield, Head of External Relations at Post Office Ltd informing him that Colchester Crown Post Office - at the top of North Hill, facing down the High Street - was to remain.

The letter to him said: "I wanted to confirm to you personally that this branch remains within the Crown network and that Post Office Ltd will continue to own and directly manage the branch, thus ending a lengthy period of uncertainty for our customers and our people."

While welcoming the news about the town's Crown Post Office, Liberal Democrat Mr Russell said that he remained alarmed about other proposals by the Post Office which could see even more of Colchester's Sub-Post Offices shut. "In recent years we have lost a third of our local neighbourhood Post Offices, eight out of 24. I fear that, at the behest of the Government, we could see further closures. I shall do what I can to keep the 16 we have left."