Post office to be opened in village hall

The 4,000 residents of Craghead, near Stanley, County Durham, have been without a post office for three months.

This summer, Craghead Area Partnership will open its own post office in the hall, in Standerton Terrace.

Partnership worker John Cullerton said: "It is a vital service for the village and that is why we are keen on keeping it open."

A post office in Craghead closed last October, leaving one in Bloemfontein at the other end of the village, managed by John Tait.

But Mr Tait retired in February, so customers had to travel to the post office in Stanley town centre.

"Both of these businesses had been up for sale for nearly two years and no one wanted them," said Mr Cullerton.

"The village has an elderly population and there is unemployment, so it was a big loss to us.

"We are keeping the service running and are effectively creating three new part-time jobs."

The partnership won £17,000 from the Government's Sub-Post Office Start Up Capital Subsidy Scheme, to pay for a secure counter to be installed. Post Office Ltd has also waived the £5,100 fee for a licence.

The counter will be run as a not-for-profit organisation. A charitable trust is being established that will spend any surplus cash on projects to benefit the community.

While it will offer the usual services, it will not sell goods, to avoid taking business away from the village's two convenience stores.

"We are about community regeneration, so we won't be selling anything in competition with local shops," said Mr Cullerton.

It marks the next phase in a plan to foster community-led businesses from the hall. This September, a £444,000 nursery with places for 30 children will open on the site.

Work is due to start on the post office within a few weeks and the counter should be open for business by mid-July.

It means a move for Mr Cullerton as his partnership office will have to make way for the counter.

He will move to the Burnside Resource Centre, in South Stanley.