Leatherhead Common Post Office update

Your Leatherhead North Councillors in collaboration with local residents have been working hard to make contact with the Post Office to resolve the temporary closure following the resignation of OneStop as the Postmaster for the Leatherhead Common Post Office. The Post Office have responded to our initial enquiry regarding the continued provision of a full Post Office service in Leatherhead North and have reached out to the council for a further meeting in March. We understand the necessity of a full service for a vast number of our residents who require access to local cash deposit facilities, many of whom pay their bills and access other services through the Post Office in the OneStop. With the withdrawal of banks from the high street in the name of unviability, we cannot accept another service being pulled from our community, and we have made the Post Office representatives aware of this sentiment.

In response to our enquiries, the Post Office have agreed to have an initial meeting with Mole Valley District Council to discuss how we can resolve this issue without losing vital services, and to discuss a way forward with community engagement. One positive takeaway from our discussions is that the ATM for cash withdrawals is not linked to the Post Office offering and will therefore remain in operation for cash withdrawals. By extension, pension cash withdrawals from bank accounts should also be unaffected by the change. We are optimistic that we can find a way to keep this service in Leatherhead North and will continue to represent our residents to work to find a suitable site for the full service. Officers are currently reaching out to Tesco to open a dialogue to discuss a full community service based at another site in North Leatherhead.

In the intervening time, we urge all residents who will be affected by this change to seek to sign the Petition and engage with the survey hosted by the Leatherhead Community Hub at the Kingston Road Recreation ground. We also ask that residents email all of their concerns and questions to the post office consultation email address at comments@postoffice.co.uk. In taking these actions, we can demonstrate the strength of feeling in the community and highlight the numerous issues that would be caused if the full service were not to be properly returned to Leatherhead North following the closure at the OneStop. We are working quickly to resolve this and will update you as soon as we have further progress.

If you have any questions please email your local Liberal Democrat Councillors at:

councillor.wall@molevalley.gov.uk
councillor.vyvyan-robinson@molevalley.gov.uk
councillor.wear@molevalley.gov.uk