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Thousands more post offices face closure

 

If your community still has a local post office, you are lucky. Treasure it - it may not be there for long. In the past decade one in three rural post offices has closed.

Fighting on: Carrington residents took their campaign to Downing Street

That works out at a shameful four closures per week and the loss in total of about 2,400 rural branches.

Towns and suburbs also lost thousands of their branches, though these were often less publicised. Taken together, about 2,500 rural and urban branches have closed in the past two years alone, leaving a network of 12,000, down from 18,000 when Labour came to office in 1997.

Post Office Limited, part of Royal Mail, says it wants to maintain the network as it is. But the reality is that many branches are no longer viable. And the recession - coupled with the move to providing services online that used to be carried out over the counter - has proved to be the final straw.

The National Federation of SubPostmasters, which represents the majority of those who run smaller post offices, reckons that as many as 3,000 are at 'imminent risk' of closure. The NFSP's general secretary, George Thomson, says: 'The recession is being especially hard on postmasters. Most say they are suffering the toughest trading circumstances they have ever experienced. As things stand, 2,000 to 3,000 are on the brink of closure.'

If that happens, Thomson warns, the whole network could be threatened in a 'snowball effect', with customers increasingly finding ways of making do without post offices altogether.

A study last year on post office closures by the University of Chichester warned of a similar 'tipping point'. If too many outlets shut, it warned, the network could 'irreversibly decline'.

Part of the problem is that post offices are conducting fewer Government-related transactions, which in the past were a big part of daily business and generated revenues for branches. This work also brought in customers who might then use other services.

'In previous recessions, post offices were handling 80 per cent of benefit payments,' says Thomson. 'Now they are doing 20 per cent.'

'Digital inclusion' measures - where the Government tried to push more services on to the internet - have hit post offices hard. Thomson fears that as public finances face even greater pressures, this trend will accelerate.

'Post offices are still undertaking 70% of car tax transactions,' he says. 'But what would happen if the Department for Transport decided it could save money by forcing people to apply online or by phone? It's a feasible saving for the DfT, but it would be terrible for post offices.'

He fervently hopes the Government will think through the consequences of any such decisions. 'In its 13 years in power the last Government got everything wrong that it could have in regard to post offices,' he says. 'Now we need to find ways of making post offices work meaningfully for customers and for Government. Subsidising branches is not the answer.'

Defeated: Ex-postmistress Janet Willis, with retrievers Millie and Bridie

The new Government has been quiet on post offices despite flagging an intention to go ahead with some form of privatisation of Royal Mail. But many prominent Conservative and Liberal Democrat figures have been outspoken defenders of threatened branches in the past and their constituents will hold them to account if closures happen (see below).

One positive outcome of countless battles waged by communities to save post offices has been to push the issue up the political agenda. For former postmistress Janet Willis, the loss of her post office was the trigger for the launch of a career in local politics.

In 2008, Janet and husband Lloyd waged what became one of the most high-profile campaigns to save a local post office when their branch in Greenodd, Cumbria, was earmarked for closure. Even their golden retriever Bridie was enlisted to the campaign, featuring on the labels of locally produced beer 'Bridie's Brew'.

William Hague was among MPs to sign the Greenodd petition, but despite enormous public opposition, the closure went ahead in July that year.

Financial Mail, which visited Greenodd to report on the protests in June 2008, contacted Janet last week. She said: 'When I look back at that period, it was a rollercoaster. I could never see the logic of the closure. But I knew early on there was no argument that could win Post Office Limited over. From the first, head office staff were arrogant and rude. I could see they were resistant to any opposition.'

Janet, 48, still runs the village shop - accompanied by a new golden retriever, Millie - while she operates a reduced 'outreach' post office service for several hours on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.

'We're managing,' she says. 'But reduced hours do mean we've lost customers. People are doing their business elsewhere.'

Following all the publicity around Greenodd's closure, Janet was invited to stand as a Liberal Democrat councillor for Low Furness, South Lakeland District, and was elected last year. She is passionate about maintaining post offices. 'A post office in Great Urswick has just been sold,' she says. 'All I hope is that the buyers will continue to run it as a post office.'

Rural post office closures quickly become local news, but urban closures, which are often less reported, can be as devastating.

Desolation: The closed Carrington post office

The post office in Carrington, a suburb to the north of Nottingham, was shut in 2008, despite strong local objections. A residents' group, steered by human resources consultant Colin Barratt, has since campaigned to have it reopened, including travelling to London to petition No 10 - without success.

Last week, Colin, 51, said: 'The community has been hit socially and commercially. Since the closure, out of a parade of 12 neighbouring shops, four have closed. People forget that in urban areas it takes a long time to travel and park. An urban mile can be a long mile, especially for people who can't easily get around.'

Colin's group will continue to lobby for a service to be restored. 'We have a new MP and through him we'll keep up the pressure,' he says.

One notable success in staving off threatened closure involved the post office in Hinton St George, a beautiful Somerset village connected only by narrow lanes to its neighbouring communities.

Yeovil MP David Laws, a Minister in the new Government until his abrupt resignation following revelations over expenses claims for rent paid to a male partner, was instrumental in helping villagers fight to keep their branch. They are fiercely loyal and grateful as a result.

Postmistress Sue Knight, 62, who has run the branch and attached store with her husband, Peter, 63, since 1991, says: 'In June 2008 we had been wrongly led to believe by Post Office Limited that we were not on the list of planned closures.

'But then, to our horror, it was suddenly announced we were to close. The villagers here are enormously appreciative of all the services and they rallied amazingly to fight the closure.'

Their branch was one of the few that survived the 2008 cull and it is now used by as many as 100 people a day. When Financial Mail recently visited Hinton we spoke to customers including visitor Natasha Mcewan who was staying with her mother. 'We've always loved this village and the shop and post office are central to it,' Natasha says.

Sue says: 'We've now been told we're safe. Everyone's said there are no plans to close any more branches. But it feels like "watch this space".'

Fight for survival at the counter

Using post offices will help them survive, as branches are paid on the basis of transactions undertaken. You can pay water, electricity and gas bills as well as bills for Sky; and you can pay income tax, council tax, car tax and renew your TV licence too.

Current account customers of many major banks (bar RBS, HSBC and NatWest) can pay in and withdraw money. Within the next six weeks these facilities will be available to Halifax customers. You can order holiday currency or transfer larger sums, and postal order and MoneyGram services still exist.

The counters enable you to buy Premium Bonds and other National Savings deals, and a Christmas savings scheme still operates for regular cash saving.

But newer telephony, insurance and savings accounts from the Post Office are not necessarily good value. Savings accounts are provided by Bank of Ireland, which is not covered by the UK's financial safety net, so beware.

How tough talk o nthe campaign trail needs to turn to action

Message: Cameron visits a branch

David Cameron's message when he visited a post office earmarked for closure in Fulham, west London, in March 2008, was clear: 'We want postmasters to do more, to offer more services, to better compete.'

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has also been outspoken on the subject, campaigning against closures in his Sheffield constituency. Other prominent MPs to have fought closures include Ian Duncan Smith, Kenneth Clarke and William Hague (see main report). Jim Paice, the Minister for Agriculture and Food in the new Government, said in April: 'Labour has stood by and let our post office network decline. Conservatives will stop the closure of any profitable post office and allow rural post offices to offer a wider range of services.'

It may be too early to judge the Coalition Government's resolve. In the Queen's Speech, a Bill was included that could ultimately pave the way for privatising bits of Royal Mail, with speculation that a part sell-off could generate revenues to finance ailing branches, which would remain in State hands.

And in last month's emergency Budget, it was announced that the £180m annual subsidy to the branch network would continue.

Minister for Postal Affairs Edward Davey said: 'The Government has had to make some hard choices, but we value the Post Office and have decided to safeguard the £180 million of funding.

'I will be working night and day to safeguard the future of the network.'

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