Post Office campaigners claim 'moral victory'

Nov 14 2009 by Alastair Craig, The Journal

THE consultation on closure of 2,500 post offices around the country was branded a sham by a watchdog earlier this week. Alastair Craig talks to campaigners in the region about their “moral victory”.

Sir Alan Beith, Liberal Democrat MP for Berwick, fought unsuccessfully to save branches in his Northumberland constituency in rural Norham, Milfield, Lowick and Scots Gap. "The report fully confirms what we discovered in Northumberland about the sham Post Office consultation in which decisions were made without looking at much of the evidence submitted for their retention," he said.

"There was no regard to either community need for their local branches or the impact on areas affected." The PAC’s chairman Edward Leigh MP said: "The closure of the local post office can be a real blow to the community.

"The consultation process appeared to the public as little more than a piece of window dressing for a decision which to all intents and purposes had already been taken.

"The consultations to which Post Office Ltd has committed itself on any future proposals for permanent closure of branches must allow the public to have a real influence on the outcomes."

Mr Leigh said Department for Business had not made clear what a sustainable post office network would look like, adding: "It should set out its expectations concerning the size, spread and composition of the network it is striving to achieve. It should also clarify what it intends to do regarding any of the outreach services closed in the light of reviews of their first year of operation.

"In view of the distress and upheaval caused to rural and urban communities by the closure programme and the less than impressive financial benefits – a forecast saving of £45m a year from 2011/12, following a loss of £17m in each of the five preceding years – compulsory closures of post offices should in future be a last resort, not a first."

Andy Burrows, of Consumer Focus, said: "After the pain of so many closures, the UK deserves a modern, viable post office network that meets the needs of the communities it serves."

Minister for Postal Affairs, Lord Young, said: "The Post Office closures which have taken place over the past year were difficult but necessary to reduce losses in a network that was losing half a million pounds a day and to ensure the viability of the rest of the network.

"Now that the closures have taken place and Post Office Limited is on a more sound financial footing, the Government has made it clear that it will not support another round of Post Office closures."

"The Prime Minister has also announced that he wants the network to play a much bigger role, bringing banking services back to the heart of people’s communities.

"We give substantial financial support to the Post Office on behalf of taxpayers. This adds up to a total of £1.7bn in the years up until 2011 and the task now is to ensure a secure and stable future for the 11,500 post offices which remain after the closures."