Pressure builds on ‘undemocratic’ PO
Feb 26 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal
A SECOND rural council is set to call on Post Office bosses to change their ‘undemocratic’ plans for public consultation over the future of threatened post offices in Northumberland.
The six-week consultations will be held to decide which post offices will close under a national cost-cutting programme, but the timing of the exercise – through July and into August – has come under fire.
Critics say the consultation exercise coincides with the peak summer holiday period when many parish councils will be in recess and potentially denied a proper say.
Earlier this month, Conservatives on Tynedale District Council submitted a notice of motion calling on the Post Office to either put back or extend the period. Now their Tory colleagues on neighbouring Castle Morpeth Borough Council have tabled a similar motion to Thursday’s meeting of the full council.
The demands come amid fears that up to 22 post offices could be closed in Northumberland as part of a national programme in which around 2,500 will be axed.
The motion to Castle Morpeth Council is led by Coun Glen Sanderson, executive member for communities, who says the borough’s post offices are the important hub for the communities they serve.
“Some post offices are the only service providers in the village and many provide other services, such as selling groceries and newspapers and acting as the local chemist. They are strongly supported by their communities.
“The six-week consultation period will take place during the summer recess when many residents of Northumberland will be on holiday and the parish and town councils don’t meet.”
Coun Sanderson’s motion calls on the borough council, local MPs and all other local authorities to pressurise the Post Office to change the schedule so that ‘effective’ consultations can be carried out outside the peak holiday period.
The Tynedale Conservatives’ notice of motion will be debated by the district council today.
A spokesman for the Royal Mail Group has said that the consultation period will not be extended because the bulk of it falls in July, not August.
She added: “The code of practice for the summer holiday period is that, in cases where more than two weeks of the six-week consultation period fall within August, the consultation period will be extended by one week.”
Meanwhile, Castle Morpeth councillors will also be asked on Thursday to press the Post Office to reopen the Lynemouth office as a matter of urgency.
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