A community Post Office in Dagenham is set to move into a newsagents next month, following a public consultation.

The Heathway branch will open just 95 metres from its current location in the nearby Heathway shopping centre on February 19, as part of the stationery, greetings card and newsagent business of Dagenham Enterprise Ltd.

The move follows a six-week public consultation, which ended on August 20 2014, which addressed issues such as the location, the proposed premises and accessibility.

The Heathway office is one of only around 340 Crown branches directly owned by Post Office Ltd, with more than 10,000 run by third parties.

No jobs will be lost in the move, with the new branch set for seven serving positions made up of two screened and four-open plan counters alongside a Post Office serving point at the retail desk.

Roger Gale, Crown Network general Manager, said: “We are committed to keeping a Post Office branch in Heathway and to maintaining the same levels of service for our customers.

“We believe the best way for us to do this is to change the way we operate the branch, so following the move it will be run by Dagenham Enterprise Ltd rather than by us directly.”

The move forms part of a major modernisation programme across the Post Office network designed to ensure branches no longer rely on government funding.

Business hours will be extended by five hours every Saturday, with opening times 9am-5.30pm Monday to Saturday.