THE Post Office in Burnley could move to the town centre WHSmith store under new proposals.

The company has revealed plans to open the branch in the shop in Charter Walk Shopping Centre, 290 metres from its Hargreaves Street site.

It comes just months after Burnley Council leader Julie Cooper said she would call on shoppers to boycott any shop that registered an interest in taking over the franchise.

The Post Office is inviting comments on the move in a public consultation that starts today. The move is part of major modernisation across the Post Office network, taking franchises out of Government control. A customer forum is due to be held in the new year.

Bosses have promised there will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of the proposed move.

Roger Gale, Crown Network general manager, said: “We are committed to keeping a Post Office branch in Burnley and to maintaining the same levels of service for our customers.

“We believe the best way for us to do this is to change the way we operate it, so if the move goes ahead it will be run by WHSmith, rather than by us directly.”

Subject to public consultation, the new Post Office would have five serving positions– a mixture of two screened and three open-plan counters.

Opening hours would be 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Saturday, and 11am to 3pm on Sundays, an extra nine-and-a-half hours per week. The move would go ahead in March, or April.

To comment, complete an online questionnaire at postofficeviews.co.uk, FREE- POST comments to Post Office Ltd, email comments@postoffice.co.uk, or phone 08457 223344. Quote branch code 003407.