Tim Farron urges Minister to intervene over delay to bringing back post office services to Shap

On the floor of the House of Commons last night, Cumbrian MP Tim Farron asked the Minister for Post Offices, Kevin Hollinrake, to help bring back post office services to Shap.

Shap has been without a post office for nearly 12 months after the couple running the newsagents retired. The village shop in Shap reopened back in November but has still yet to be given permission to run post office services.

In Parliament, Tim said that “apparent inertia” and “red tape” from Post Office Ltd were delaying progress in bringing back vital post office services to the village.

Speaking during an Urgent Question on Post Office Ltd Tim said: “When considering the governance of Post Office Ltd, will the Minister bear in mind the demoralising impact of the Horizon scandal on current and potential sub-postmasters, as well as on the people who were victims of the scandal itself?

“In our communities, we are fighting to return post offices to Shap and to Hawkshead - as he knows, because he kindly met me to discuss them recently - and to maintain a post office in Staveley, but we are being hampered by apparent inertia and administrative hurdles, in Shap especially, which are the last things we need.

“We need encouragement, not red tape. Is there a plan to proactively support current and potential postmasters, so that we can maintain and expand our vital post office network in Cumbria’s communities and across the country?”

Responding, Kevin Hollinrake MP said: “Yes, it was a pleasure to meet the honourable member, and I am happy to meet him again to try to expedite matters if he is experiencing delays.

“Of course, checks and balances need to be gone through with any new postmaster application, but it is good to hear that people are coming forward, and I am very happy to work with him to make sure that that situation is resolved as quickly as possible.”