Postal service stays: Newsagency owners Gerard and Kellie Attwood are taking over the licensed post office in Sorrento. Picture: Daryl Gordon
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SORRENTO will have a new postal service from July with the Sorrento Newsagency being announced on Friday as the successful tenderer for the licensed post office.
Gerard and Kellie Attwood have owned the newsagency for 10 years.
After putting in a last-minute tender, Mr Attwood said he was convinced they would be able to offer a trusted and expanded postal service for residents - "we would have hated to see the postal service lost in Sorrento".
"We are committed to customer service and the feedback we have had from the local community has been terrific.
''We will be offering a postal service seven days a week and will be expanding the number of post office boxes, which will be relocated to the newsagency. There will be a reasonable makeover of the retail space with the latest fit-out from Australia Post."
Residents have been assured the post boxes will be relocated to a 24-hour facility, with an additional 150 post boxes to be added. The historic post office building, built in 1905, is now expected to be sold.
Convener of the heritage and planning group of the Nepean Historical Society, Frank Hindley, said interest was now focused on what would happen with the historic building.
Mr Hindley said once the building, which is on the Commonwealth heritage list, was sold it would be removed from the list, leaving the future of the building in jeopardy.
"We would like to see the building listed on either the national or state heritage list," he said. "The building has a very important history and is a rare example of a Commonwealth post office, built in the Federation period."
Mr Hindley encouraged Australia Post to gift the building to the Mornington Peninsula Shire so it could be used by community groups or for public functions.
Flinders federal MP Greg Hunt said a decision last May by federal Heritage Minister Tony Burke had removed some of the post office's heritage protection.
"I'm shocked that minister Burke has downgraded the heritage status of the Sorrento post office without even consulting the local community.
''I understand that if it is sold, it will automatically lose its commonwealth heritage list status and therefore potentially lose all its heritage protection. I call on the minister to undo the damage he has done and commence the process of listing the Sorrento post office on the National Heritage List."
A Mornington Peninsula Shire strategic planner said the building was protected by a shire heritage overlay, which meant a planning permit would be required for any changes to the building.