POST OFFICE BRANCHES WITHIN SUPERMARKETS

That this House congratulates those supermarkets which continue to accommodate post offices within their stores; deplores the decision of those supermarkets which have excluded long-established post offices from their premises, often for purely commercial reasons and without regard for their customers' convenience or for alternative post office provision in the local area; and calls on local planning authorities throughout the country to impose conditions on any new supermarket development that would oblige the applicant to offer to accommodate a post office within any new store and to guarantee an appropriate minimum period during which the post office's tenancy rights would be guaranteed.