TYTHERINGTON POST OFFICE to reopen

Commenting on the decision by South Gloucestershire Council’s Frome Vale Area Forum to commit £3,000 to a funding package to reopen Tytherington post office, Cllr Matthew Riddle – the Council’s Older People’s Champion – said:

 “Like many Tytherington residents, I am delighted that the final piece of the funding jigsaw has come together.

 When I organised last year’s post office protest rally in Tytherington, many local villagers, particularly elderly residents that relied on this local service, feared the negative effect that the loss of the post office would have on the village’s volunteer-run community shop.

 This 3 year pilot project allows us to start to undo the damage that has been done to this rural community by the Government’s mean decision to close its post office, particularly seeing as the shop is staffed by volunteers and is a real community effort.

 Building the post office and village shop back up into a self-financing and sustainable community enterprise run by the village for the village is the aim of this three year pilot project and I am convinced that it is achievable.

 Parish leaders are to be commended for the hard work they have put in to build the support of local people.

 I would also like to thank officers from South Gloucestershire Council, who I have worked closely with to get this funding package off the ground.”

 South Gloucestershire Council is planning to contribute £13,000 a year to the £20,000 annual running costs of a newly-reopened post office. The remaining £7,000 will be made up of a £4,000 commitment from Tytherington Parish Council and £3,000 from the Frome Vale Area Forum.

 Cllr Riddle’s efforts build on the well-attended ‘Hands Off Our Post Offices’ protest rally he organised against the closure of Tytherington Post Office in March 2008 to which he invited Liberal Democrat and Labour representatives.