Post Office Closures - what you can do

Tips on opposing a closure
If you feel that your community could use an outreach solution
Where to send your representations
 

Promotional campaign materials

Posters in A2, A3 and A4 sizes are available to order FREE from Bedfordshire County Council on 01234 276333. The posters are designed so that you can add your own information encouraging your local residents in towns and villages to take part in the consultation.

Alternatively, we can overprint your  local details onto the poster for you.
Contact 01234 276333 (between 8.30am and 4.30pm) for more details.

A PDF of the poster is also available to download here:

Campaign Poster (1.03 MB)

For more information, contact Andy Allsopp, Assistant Director, Communications, Bedfordshire county Council on 01234 228813.

Tips on opposing a closure

The advice we have received is that responses to the consultation must make a strong argument against closure, based on factual evidence.  The following tips will help make a robust case.  We would like to thank Essex Rural Forum for permitting us to reproduce elements from their guidance.

1.   Refer to the Branch Access Report made by Post Office Limited, regarding access to the nearest alternative Post Office to your community – is this a fair assessment? You can obtain the Branch access report for your post office on our Evidence page, or from the  Branch Access Report from the Post Office Ltd website (NB - the Post Office site report contains all the branches in the area, not individual post offices).

Get help here on How to Analyse the Branch Access Report

2. Ask yourself the following questions: (do the answers support your cause to keep your Post Office/s open?)

• What are the opening hours of the nearest alternative Post Office/s?
• How frequently does the bus service operate?  At what times of day does the bus service operate? How does this fit with local school hours? Does the bus stop close-by to the Post Office?
• Is there adequate parking near to the Post Office?
• If walking routes are included, is there a safe footpath? Would this accommodate pushchairs and wheelchairs? Are there uneven, narrow or steep sections of footpath?
• Do the suggested alternative Post Offices offer the same or greater range of services available at your local Office?
• Is the nearest alternative branch capable of serving the anticipated influx of new customers in addition to its existing customers? Does it have enough parking, counter positions, staff, etc?
• Is single car ownership a factor in your area? If a household has one car it may be used by the main income earner during Post Office opening hours, leaving other household members reliant on public transport / walking access.
• Are there other services near to or on the same premises as the closing branch which are not available near to the alternative branch? (e.g. ATM, general stores, butcher, bakery, dry cleaners, Parish Council office?)

3. Ask your Post-master/mistress if they have identified any reasons which may help to support the argument to retain the branch.

4.  Bedfordshire partners have been collating local area dossiers to provide more detailed information to support responses to the consultation.

5. Encourage others to submit letters, stating the reasons for opposing the closure. It is important to note that individual letters setting out reasons for opposing the specific closure/s will have a much greater impact than petitions - write individual letters showing local knowledge and personal experience.

6.  Download the poster from this site to display locally to alert your community to the consultation, or obtain a colour copy from Bedfordshire County Council (see above). The consultation period is short.  It is imperative, therefore, that as many people, organisations and businesses as possible are aware of the plans of Post Office Limited.  You can also download a briefing note to circulate, display, or use on a website.

7. Further suggestions on mounting local campaigns can be found on these websites:

Help the Aged
Communities Against Post Office Closures, including getting support in your community, media coverage, example dossiers submitted by communities to early PO consultations.

If you feel that your community could use an outreach solution

There are 500 outreach facilities proposed for the UK. If you think one would be appropriate for your community, write to Post Office Limited at the address shown below and suggest this as a course of action. Your answers to the questions in paragraph 2 above can be used to campaign for a suitable replacement, for example, a mobile post office service.  More on outreach services.

9. If Post Office Limited is already proposing that your Post Office will be replaced by an outreach service, we would urge the importance of trying to influence the provision of a suitable outreach service alongside any campaign to save the post office. Again, experience elsewhere is that refusal to consider an outreach option has not prevented closure of the post office itself.

Where to send your representations

10.  Send your representations to Post Office Ltd by 26 August 2008:

By letter:  National Consultation Team
                  Post Office Ltd
                  FREEPOST CONSULTATION TEAM
                 (no stamp is required)
By email: consultation@postoffice.co.uk
By phone: 08457 22 33 44

11.  It is also recommended you copy your letter to the appropriate local authority contact shown below. We will then use this information (in anonymised form) to compile evidence on your behalf to send to:

• Your MP
• Your County and District/Borough Councillors
• Postwatch.     Postwatch is the watchdog for postal services and it is independent of Post Office Ltd and the government. Whilst Postwatch does not have the power to overrule the Post Office, its views on a closure have to be taken into account.

This will assist understanding of the local implications. If you wish to use this service, it would be helpful to receive your copy by 22 August.  Please copy your letter to:

If you are in Bedford Borough:
Dan Hickman, Bedford Borough Council, Town Hall, St Paul’s Square, Bedford MK40 1SJ      Email: dhickman@bedford.gov.uk

If you are in Mid or South Bedfordshire:
Allan Witherick, South Beds District Council, District Office, High Street North, Dunstable LU6 1LF Email:  postoffice@southbeds.gov.uk

12.  Postwatch can be contacted directly (and copied in to responses going to Post Office Ltd) at FREEPOST Postwatch, by e-mailing to info@postwatch.co.uk, or by calling 08456 013265. 

13.  If you wish to contact your MP, elected councillors, you can find contact details here.

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