The Daily Echo 10 January 2008

Written by Sandra Gidley MP on Thu 10th Jan 2008

As I write this the results of the consultation on the closure of Post Offices are just being made public. I am angry as I can't escape the feeling that all the hard work lobbying, attending meetings and making submissions was a complete waste of time because it was all a foregone conclusion. I say this because the net result across the whole of Hampshire was that only one Post Office that was earmarked for closure will remain open. Even that appears to have been at the expense of a Post Office elsewhere which will now close completely.

Hampshire is one of the first counties to go through this Post Office but I confidently predict that this is the pattern of things to come and that there will be little change elsewhere in the country.

I have always encouraged people to respond to consultations and have taken the firm view that if enough people make a good case then the proposed outcome, of whatever is being consulted on, can change. This is the first time that I have ever felt that little or no notice has been taken of the many people who took the time and trouble to respond.

On a personal level I am one of the lucky ones because my local Post Office survives. There are many who are not so lucky and many of the villages in the rural part of the Romsey constituency are now without a Post Office. As there is a dearth of public transport and many older people do not drive then it is difficult to see how some people will access services without relying on the goodwill of family and friends. But it is worse than that as many local Post Offices provide other local services. In West Tytherley the village shop is a community project, staffed by volunteers and it relies heavily on the income from the Post Office. In Lockerley the Post Office is a source of home cooked casseroles for the elderly and is looked upon by the villagers as a social resource. In Leckford the new owner won an award last year and was starting to build up a business.I could go on!

To the Post Office it is just a numbers game. To the communities they serve the loss of the Post Offices will be another nail in the coffin of village life.

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