Post office closure plans investigated
AN INVESTIGATION has been launched into the Government's
handling of the decision to close scores of post offices across
-
PO
the Westcountry.
The National Audit Office, Whitehall's watchdog, will
examine whether communities were properly consulted over the
decision to shut down 2,500 branches across the country.
It will also look at the effect of the closures on the
vulnerable and look at what has been done to fill the void the
closures will cause.
In Cornwall, 49 villages could see their post offices
replaced by a mobile outreach service. A further 13 post
offices in the county are scheduled to be closed.
And in Devon, 69 post offices will close for good or be
turned into mobile or outreach services.
Two branches out of a hit list of 83 have been saved – but
the Post Office has decided that two other branches must close
in their place.
Yesterday, Muriel Merrett Jones, who is campaigning to save
St Neot post office in Cornwall, welcomed the
investigation.
She said: "At least it's being looked in to, although it
will probably be too late to save the branches. We're hoping
the judicial review being pursued by Cornwall County Council
will have more success."
She felt that communities were not consulted in making the
decision.
And she said: "Vulnerable people were not taken into
consideration. A lot of old and disabled people collect their
benefits from the post office and do their shopping there. It
means they can continue living at home and being independent.
If they close, more people will have to go into care."
Jim Latham, of Communities Against Post Office Closures,
said: "I hope this report underlines the badly thought-out,
impossible conditions the Government has put on this
programme."
The investigation will focus on the role of the former
Department for Trade and Industry, now called the Department
for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, and the criteria
it set for the closures. The report will be put to Parliament
next year.
A spokesman for the Post Office said that it was
implementing the decision to close up to 2,500 branches as
sensitively as possible.
Comments
by JohnW, Lincs
Monday, August 18 2008, 4:37PM
“Lets not miss the bigger picture here.
It is not the loss of the ability to get your pension or car tax etc that is a stake, these services can be provided by other, cheaper means, even if these means are not too popular with many of the older generation. What we are losing as a nation is the ability to post that parcel (Mum¿s present) or send that recorded delivery etc. The Post Office Network is, or should we say was, the front end of the Royal Mail, ie the Postal Service. The payment of pensions and benefits etc through the existing Post Office Branches was a cost effective use of government resources at the time when the payments were introduced, as was issuing car tax, TV licenses etc. This has now been superseded by modern payment and banking methods, however the government is intent on throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Before long we will not only have to travel to the nearest town or main post office to post our mail, we will find that we will have to go there to collect it as well!”