Post office boost for villages

NEARLY 1,000 rural post offices across France could be transformed into one-stop-shops for utilities, benefits and other government services.

Under new plans, the government is seeking to work with La Poste, helping the latter to keep rural offices open by increasing the number of facilities available at them.

The maisons de services publics would group gas and electricity providers EDF, GDF-Suez along with the SNCF, Pôle emploi, and the health and benefits agencies CNAM and CNAF.

There are already 362 such maisons in France, but Prime Minister Manuel Valls has announced he wants to see 1,000 created by the end of 2016.

The 982 post offices that will be chosen will be from communes with an average population of 1,500 people and which currently receive around 70 people a day.

La Poste is currently obliged to keep 17,000 ‘points of contact’ open across the country, which includes counters in other facilities, like local shops, as well as actual post offices.

Funding for the new offices will be split between local and national government and the various agencies operating in them.

The partnership with La Poste will be discussed by the cabinet on June 24, the minister for housing and rural territories, Sylvia Pinel has confirmed.

Photo: Flickr/Steve Parker