The Post Office has sought to allay concerns that villagers may soon be left without access to their branch.

It has been known since March that the post office in the Payden’s Pharmacy in Ashford Road, Bearsted, will be closing next February, as the pharmacy wants to expand its own business and needs the space.

There have also been concerns that the post office in Newsrack at Grove Green could close because the owner is seeking to sell the business.

Both sites are being advertised by Post Office Ltd on its website, where it said the company was “seeking applicants to set up a brand new Post Office in this area” or “to incorporate a Post Office Local into their existing or proposed business”.

However, a spokesman said this week: “There have been applicants for both the Ashford Road and Grove Green branches, and we hope that consultations will begin later this year.”

Similarly, the owner of Newsrack insisted he was in negotiations with a potential buyer for his business who was committed to taking on the post office function.

The potential closure of the Ashford Road post office was on the agenda at the last meeting of Bearsted Parish Council, where members resolved to do all they could to help find a new sub-postmaster.

Council chairman David Hall said the village was already “very concerned” about the closure of the Ashford Road post office, which he said was “tremendously busy,” but he added: “If the Grove Green post office were to close too, it would be a catastrophe.”

The council has looked into the possibility of opening a community post office along the lines of that achieved at Detling, but it has been hampered by a lack of suitable premises.

The Detling Community Store and Post Office opened in September 2020, seven years after the village lost its last shop.

Bearsted has recently set up its own sponsored shopping bus to take people into the Maidstone town centre, to replace a lost Arriva service.

Cllr Hall said: “One of the key attractions of our service is that it stops at Grove Green so that passengers can use the post office services there.”

Last October the Penenden Heath post office closed when the postmaster retired after 26 years. On that occasion, the Post Office was able to transfer the branch to the Best One at 80 Boxley Road.

Cllr Hall said: “There is an increasing problem not just in this area, but all over the country.

“People don’t want to take on a post office anymore, because, frankly, it doesn’t pay much.

“Recruitment has almost certainly also been affected by the IT scandal.

“People’s lives were broken over that, with innocent people going to jail.

“It’s obviously going to give people second thoughts about joining the organisation.”

Between 1999 and 2015, more than 700 sub-postmasters were prosecuted for theft, fraud and false accounting.

It eventually transpired that the problem was a fault in the Horizon IT system they were obliged to use, which showed money to be missing when it wasn’t.

Even today, there is an ongoing row over the compensation payments that should be made to those who lost their businesses or were wrongly convicted.

An inquiry led by Sir Wyn Williams predicted that hundreds of sub-postmasters would still not have received their compensation payments by the deadline of October next year.

Cllr Hall said: “We have written to our MP Helen Whately with our concerns for Bearsted.

“But the issue of Post Office closures is really one that the Government needs to address nationally.”

The need for a local Post Office has been intensified in recent times, with the continued closure of bank branches.

There are no bank branches left in Bearsted.

Even in Maidstone, any customers of the TSB bank wanting to make an in-branch transaction have to do so at one of the post offices after the bank closed its last branch in the town in May last year.

The Post Office is also advertising for a replacement for Aylesford Post Office, currently operating from within the Aylesford Service Station in Forstal Road.

But again the Post Office reassured customers: “The postmaster at Aylesford will continue to operate the post office for the time being.”

Applications to take on the business can be made here.

The branch is currently producing annual fees in the range of £21,200 to £23,000.