At the start of the year, I distributed a short survey to households in Newlyn and Porthleven as part of the ongoing work to restore a post office service in these communities.

The survey was also repeated online and gave the option for residents living in other parts of West Cornwall to have a say on what post office services are needed and where.

Whilst the hard copy survey option has now closed you are welcome to complete the online survey if you missed it.

On Friday I hosted a meeting in Penzance with senior representatives of Post Office LTD to explore how we can meet the demand for permanent post office services in both Newlyn and Porthleven.

Penzance Town Council clerk, a Cornwall Council officer and members of the group in Newlyn who have been campaigning for a permanent post office also attended.

The results of the survey clearly demonstrated support for a post office with the majority of respondents confirming that they would use the service. The most common demand was for mail services with almost all stating they would use the post office for post and parcels.

About a third also require a post office for banking and paying bills and nearly half would like a post office to use DVLA functions and to access travel money.

When the post offices first closed, I secured the mobile service and interestingly, of those who responded, just 28 per cent use the mobile service in Newlyn although the figure was higher in Porthleven with 54 per cent. This recognises that the limited availability of the mobile service (just two sessions each week) whilst it is appreciated by many, is not meeting the need residents in Newlyn and surrounding communities have.

The Post Office LTD also carried out some research and established that there is an opportunity to grow post office services in Newlyn and Porthleven and Post Office LTD are actively asking businesses to consider hosting a post office counter.

Following our meeting our job is to ramp up the effort to identify a suitable business to take on a post office counter and there is an opportunity for any interested business owners to join a meeting I’ll be hosting where they can ask Post Office LTD representatives exactly what is required, how much the business is paid for these services and what the process is to set up a new counter.

It is worth pointing out that, although in some circumstances a flat fee is paid to support a post office branch, the majority of the income is earned through transactions made by customers. This could be posting a parcel or taking cash out for example. This is helpful information for both the owner and customer and really demonstrates that the phrase ‘use it or lose it’ is applicable to post office services irrespective of who delivers them.

We have given ourselves three months to identify a suitable and willing business owner and, failing this, we then move onto a community post office solution which will take much longer and demand much from volunteers!

Derek Thomas