| Earlier in the week, Mr Luke raised the issue in Parliament, telling the house the decision to close the post office had been delayed to allow alternatives to closure to be discussed.
Prominent among them is the re-housing of the office to a neighbouring supermarket in the Campfield Square location — with Iceland and Somerfield both being mentioned.
However, both were less than receptive yesterday, as both said they had no plans in the pipeline for such a move.
Mr Luke said, “We have made contact with Iceland and Bruce Mackie was to make contact with Somerfield and I am waiting to speak to him on that. The people at Iceland, to whom my assistant Emma Thomson spoke, think it’s a good idea
“We have been in touch and we hope to ask these stores if they will consider taking over the post office.
“I am surprised, because I thought the Post Office would have contacted the supermarkets, too. If Barnhill Post Office is closed, then what is left in Barnhill? Nothing.
“This is why people are critical of the Royal Mail and network re-invention. People feel disparaged by the network because it seems the Royal Mail have not tried to make it work.
“My view is you’ve got this window of opportunity to see if there’s feasibility, and that has to be taken seriously.”
Emma Thomson, who contacted Iceland on Mr Luke’s behalf, said, “Iceland said they were quite happy about the idea and the people I spoke with, in fact, approached their marketing department to sound them out on the possibility prior to our contacting them.”
The Royal Mail Group moved to distance itself from the supermarket proposal yesterday, indicating a reluctance to move forward with the idea.
Meanwhile, Dundee East MSP Shona Robison issued a plea urging everyone to get behind keeping the existing Barnhill Post Office open.
She said, “I would like to issue a plea for everyone to get behind keeping the post office open and raise concern that half-baked ideas like the supermarket proposal could undermine keeping it open.
“I don’t want the Royal Mail to get off the hook by muddying the waters.
“What we should be looking at is the overwhelming public demand to keep the existing post office open.
“We need to keep the pressure up on the post office and . . . I worry there could be distraction from these half-baked, ill-thought out ideas.” |
