Fight goes on for post office

Dec 27 2008 by Brian Daniel, The Journal

A NORTHUMBERLAND community is refusing to admit defeat in its fight to save its doomed post office.

The outlet at Norham, near Berwick, was one of 80 in the region which Post Office Ltd deemed surplus to requirements in August.

Bosses decided to close the branch and replace it with an outreach service for residents two hours a day, five days a week.

The decision came following a six-week consultation process during which Norham was one of the most active communities in the region in terms of voicing opposition to its closure.

Villagers launched a Save our Post Office stamp to take the message round the world, ironically with a little help from the very people who were depriving them of their branch.

A public meeting was attended by 150 people and more than 400 wrote letters opposing the closure.

Entries were made for the village’s annual scarecrow festival bearing the Save our Post Office slogan.

Yet Post Office officials pressed ahead with the closure.

Postmistress Wendy Thackray has yet to receive a date on which she must stop offering postal services, unlike many other branches which have already been given their shutdown day.

Mrs Thackray, who hit out at the closure proposal via The Journal before it was officially announced – in breach of Post Office instructions – has only been told that the outlet will close at some point between January 3 and March 5.

And Norham Parish Council, which led opposition to the branch loss, is fighting on in the meantime. Since the August announcement, the parish has approached Northumberland County Council, which has been in contact with Post Office bosses, and the Conservative Party’s parliamentary candidate for Berwick, Anne Marie Trevelyan.

It is waiting to hear back on whether there are any last ditch avenues open to it, which could lead to a review of the decision.

The council would favour the outreach service employee opening the post office, rather than trading from a van, if it cannot secure the retention of the branch.

Parish clerk Janet Heywood said: “We are still hoping to save it. We are still hoping, and struggling and lobbying.”

People at Norham are incensed by the recent admission from Post Office Ltd that it misfiled comments from Berwick Liberal Democrat MP Sir Alan Beith submitted during the consultation period.

As a result, Sir Alan’s views on Norham and other local branches were not considered when the decision to close was made.

The MP discovered the Post Office’s blunder following a Freedom of Information request from a resident of Norham, to obtain all correspondence on the closure of the village branch.

We are still hoping to save it. We are still hoping, and struggling and lobbying