Refurbishment works at Belford Co-op to mean temporary changes to Post Office services

The in-store Post Office service will close from Sunday, June 6 at 1pm and reopen on Monday, June 24 at 7am.

However, a temporary Mobile Post Office service will be provided from the car park by the Alnwick Postmaster on Tuesdays (1.15pm-1.45pm) and Wednesdays (1.30pm-2pm).

Mike Ball from the Post Office said: “We understand the importance of the Post Office service to the local community and will be providing a temporary Mobile Post Office service to our customers, while building works are carried out.

“We would like to apologise for the inconvenience the temporary closure may cause. We hope that our customers will use the new Mobile Post Office service while the branch is being refurbished.”

The plans for the West Street store involve the decorating of all the shop front window frames and doors in traffic grey, along with new plant to the side. The application was recently approved by Northumberland County Council with no objection from Belford Parish Council.

Cllr Guy Renner-Thompson, who was re-elected as parish council chairman, also reported that the electronic speed deterrent on West Street was now installed.

Works at Cragmill road have been completed while the resurfacing of North Bank was carried out last week.

"I asked for that (North Bank) because it was the same surface as they had on the High Street which failed,” said Cllr Renner-Thompson.

He revealed that the proposed land transfer at the former St Mary’s Middle School site was still in the hands of legal teams.

It was also noted that BT proposals to remove public phone boxes from the High Street and Middleton Hall had been approved by the county council.

Meanwhile, the parish council has appealed for local residents to come forward and fill three vacancies.

It is hoped candidates from the Easington area will express interest now it is included in the Belford parish.

"We need more parish councillors and it’s not just Belford village,” said Cllr Renner-Thompson.

The vacancies will be discussed at the June 17 meeting. The possibility of installing a noticeboard at Waren Mill will also be on the agenda.

The dramatic events of the pandemic are having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers and consequently the advertising that we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on your support through buying our newspaper. If you can, please pick up a copy of the newspaper when you are at the shops. Thank you.