Agenda item

The Commission considered a report of the Chief Executive that outlined proposed changes to the Post Office network in Leicestershire contained in the Post Office Network Change Programme for Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland, which were the subject of a 12 week consultation closing on 10^th January 2008.  A copy of the report, marked ‘C’, is filed with these minutes. A supplementary paper summarising the alternative post offices available to customers for those post offices recommended for closure is also filed with the minutes.

The Committee also received a presentation that looked in more detail at the extent to which the Post Office’s closure proposals matched up to their criteria.  The Committee was informed that representations from local County Councillors had been received against the proposed closure of:

Bagworth Post Office

Birstall Kingsgate Post Office

Connaught Road Post Office, Market Harborough

Tilton on the Hill Post Office (to be replaced by an outreach service)

With the consent of the Chairman, Mr Paul Herrington, Chairman of the ‘Save the Post Office at Tilton on the Hill Campaign addressed the Committee.  He referred to a range of concerns about the proposal to close the Post Office and to replace it with an outreach service of 10 hours per week:

• The outreach service of 10 hours per week would be inadequate compared to the 46 hours per week currently provided;
• The outreach service would not meet the needs of local businesses;
• The outreach service was unlikely to be viable commercially and, if this turned out to be the case, Tilton would eventually have no local service;
• The alternative Post Office at Billesdon was over 3 miles away and was not easily accessible on foot; people living in Tilton who did not work did not necessarily have access to a car.

The Committee raised a number of concerns about the consultation process, the proposed closures and alternative provision and the potential impact of the closures on local communities.  These included the following:

1. There appeared to be no recognition of the value placed on Post Offices by local communities to achieve key priorities, including tackling rural deprivation, developing sustainable communities and promoting equal opportunity and access issues; if the Government accepted that Post Offices were a valued community resource then it should be prepared to subsidise the service;
2. It was difficult for the Council to offer objective comments as part of the consultative process without being aware of how the decisions hade been taken on proposed closures; the consultation process needed greater transparency; The Committee expressed particular concern that post office managers had been given to understand that if a post office in one place was not closed as a consequence of representations received, this would result in the closure of another post office to be identified;
3. Proposed closures should be considered on an area basis rather than in terms of country-wide;
4. There appeared to be flaws in the criteria that had been used by the Post Office, for example it was unclear whether the number of visits or the scale of transactions had been taken into account; whether the impact of seasonal variations in custom had been considered or the impact of closures on local businesses and shops.  It appeared that mistakes had been made by the post office, for example in proposing the closure of profitable post offices and post offices that had recently been refurbished;
5. There were doubts about the capacity of some post offices proposed as alternatives to post offices to be closed to handle the increased business that would result;
6. The Council should consider what action it could take to ameliorate the impact on local communities that lost their local post office.

RESOLVED:

That the Cabinet be recommended :

(a)   To forward to Post Office Ltd  all representations received from local County Councillors about proposed closures of post offices;

(b)   To consider the comments now made by the Commission.