AN isolated community has been thrown a lifeline with the announcement its post office is to reopen.
After being empty for seven months, High Clarence Post Office will be trialling a new service.
The community is between Billingham and Middlesbrough, under the shadow of the Transporter Bridge.
Alex Cunningham, MP for Stockton North, hopes the post office, in the Clarences' Community Resource Centre in the High Street, will become a permanent fixture.
"I am told the new service is expected to be up and running by August and I hope local people will make good use of the service to ensure the continued presence of Post Office Services in the community, " he said.
A Post Office spokesman added: "We will be trialling this new service over the next 12 months. During this time, Post Office Ltd will be carefully monitoring the situation to make sure this post office meets the needs of the local community and would provide a commercially viable alternative to the way our services are currently offered.
"The success of the trial is, to a great extent, reliant on customers using this post office on a regular basis."
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