THERE is just one day left to comment on proposals to move Milnthorpe Post Office to a new location and extend its opening hours.

Post Office Ltd says the new Milnthorpe branch at the town's McColls store will offer post office products and services from an open-plan till at the shop counter alongside retail transactions during normal shop opening hours.

The McColls store is at 3-4 The Square, Milnthorpe - just 140 metres from the current post office at 10 Park Road site. Customers and interested parties were invited to make their views known during a six-week public consultation.

Should the move go ahead, the branch would open from 5am to 9pm, seven days a week. Post Office Ltd said this would offer an extra 66 hours of Post Office service every week.

The proposed move is part of major modernisation programme across the Post Office network designed to make it easier for customers to do business, through longer opening hours and modern open plan environments.

Suzanne Richardson, the Post Office's regional network manager for Scotland and northern England, said: “We understand how important having a post office is to residents in Milnthorpe and we are confident that this new modern Post Office service will meet the needs of the local community and secure services for the future.

“This modernisation is part of a major investment programme, the largest in the history of the Post Office and marks a commitment to no more branch closure programmes.”

Under the current Parliament the Government has committed £1.34bn for the Post Office network to make sure there is no programme of Post Office closures and to update branches; in November the Government announced a further £640m investment in the Post Office network, from 2015 to 2018.

Nationwide the investment programme will see up to 8,000 branches modernised with additional investment in over 3,000 community and outreach branches.

During the public consultation, Post Office Ltd welcomes feedback on any issues customers would like considered before a final decision is taken on this proposal. The consultation will close tomorrow, August 12, 2014. Submissions can be made during the consultation by Freepost YOUR COMMENTS to Post Office Ltd, via email to comments@postoffice.co.uk, via the Customer Helpline on 08457 22 33 44 or Textphone 08457 22 33 55.