HOT on the heels of a new sub-post office starting up in Butterknowle last week, an application has been submitted this week to open one in a neighbouring village.

Design Architectural Services, which is based in Staindrop, has submitted an application on behalf of one of its clients to run a post office at a former clothes shop in Front Street, Copley, a property that has been empty for almost 20 years.

If the application is successful, the post office will also be run as a general store selling a wide range of goods. A spokesman for Design Architectural Services told the D&S Times that an application for grant aid had been made to the Countryside Commission. "But if for any reason the post office does not materialise, my client still plans to open a village stores in Copley," he said.

Mr Ken Hughes, Teesdale District Council's head of planning, was familiar with the property concerned, saying an application to convert the premises to residential use had originally been submitted but not followed through, therefore planning permission to operate the building as retail premises would still be in place.

A Post Office spokesman said there was no facility in the village since the last one closed a couple of years ago. They were always seeking to maintain the post office network and any application from interested parties would be given the proper consideration.