A controversial post office move is going ahead despite concerns raised by campaigners, MPs and councillors.

The crown post office at Market Place will close on May 15 and be replaced inside the WHSmith on Broad Street a day later.

Disabled campaigners, councillors and MPs have raised concern over access and called for the move to be halted.

No town centre post offices in central Reading will be on the ground floor once the Market Place store is replaced.

Matt Rodda, MP for Reading East, said: “We are concerned about disabled access getting to the lifts.

“This is a very long, thin store. There is a lot of travelling around and it gets busy at the weekend.

“I am also concerned about people’s jobs being lost. This visit has been really important to raise awareness with WHSmith managers.”

A consultation took place in November and December 2018 and the post office announced its decision to go ahead with the move in February.

Councillor Mohammed Ayub said the move is going to go ahead and the next move for councillors will be to get views from residents and people with disabilities on the service once it opens and ‘take it from there’.

Reading Borough Council’s (RBC) Access & Disabilities group called for a rethink of the plans last month, but the Post Office said it is ‘confident that the new branch will continue to meet customer needs and deliver an excellent service’.

Wheelchair user Frank Spence called the move ‘ridiculous’,

He said: “Disabled access in Reading is bad enough. It is an awful place for disabled people. There is a good post office at Market Place. It already moved once.”

The new post office on Broad Street will be accessible by a customer lift, an up escalator or stairs.

A WHSmith spokesman said: “We have been successfully operating Post Offices in our High Street Stores since 2006 and have received positive feedback from our customers.

“Customers often comment on the longer opening hours, shorter queue times and the more modern environment.

“All of these Post Offices have opened following a full consultation with the public and key stakeholders.”

Lynn Simpson, from the Communication Workers Union, said the service is going to be dumbed down because of the high churn of staff.

She said wages will fall from around £12 per hour to the minimum wage and current workers at the Market Place post office ‘do not want to do the same job for a third of the wage’.

A WHSmith spokesman said salaries will be dependent on individual roles, and it offers training and progression to support and encourage employees as they move up through the business.

Lisa Nandy, MP for Wigan, who led a parliamentary debate on the franchising of crown post offices, joined Matt Rodda along with several Labour councillors, disabled campaigners and a union representative at WHSmith, 39 Broad Street, to raise awareness of the issues.

She said: “The store managers are making a big effort to make sure vital services are retained but there are serious issues.

“Long-standing staff are much more able to deal with disabled customers.

“There are serious problems for people who are visually impaired given how crowded and cluttered it is.

“The key thing is that this is a public service and it should be provided to people as a right.

“Customers deserve better.”