Tim 'furious' at Post Office plans to go ahead with cuts
The Post Office consultation has now been published. Tim is furious at the decision by Post Office bosses to go ahead with all 7 closures of sub-Post Office branches in his constituency despite massive local opposition to the plans. He has branded the consultation exercise a farce and has called on the Government to reverse the decision.
During the so-called 'consultation' Tim worked alongside local residents and Sub-Post-Masters on his campaign to 'Save Local Post Offices'. He raised the matter in Parliament, organised marches against the cuts and public meetings for the local community to express their concerns about the proposed closures. You can read more about his campaign to save local post offices below.
Tim commented in response to the publication of the consultation:
"This news is another bitter blow to my constituents. I am appalled that the Post Office appears to have stuck two fingers up to thousands of customers in Adur and Worthing and indeed the whole of Sussex who will now struggle even more to access dwindling post office services.
"We were assured by the Post Office and the Minister that this was a 'meaningful and genuine' consultation exercise even though it had been truncated to 6 weeks in the run up to Christmas. Yet they have clearly ignored the 6200 people who signed our petition in a very short space of time; they have ignored the hundreds who took to the streets in protest; they have ignored the worsening deprivation figures which were published during the consultation and they have completely ignored the very genuine concerns of residents, police, businesses and councillors that the increased travel distances will be unworkable and dangerous for many people, let alone adding to congestion.
"At a stroke the Post Office have halved the number of sub-post offices in my constituency without any idea of how the remaining branches will cope and once gone they are gone for good. The whole of Sompting and Lancing especially has suffered a body blow condemning a population on near 28,000 effectively to rely on one main post office which is already struggling to cope.
"This is a complete travesty and the post office has lost all credibility in terming itself 'the people's post office' and is clearly more interested in maximising profit and has lost any concept of providing a public service.
"It is shameful that the Government is standing by and letting this happen and can only result in losing even more business to the competition such that no one can be assured that we have even seen the end of the cuts.
"We will be fighting this decision all the way and I will be tackling the Minister to justify how this consultation was anything other than a sham and another cruel deceit to the people of Sussex."
Please click here to read the Post Office's full report on the proposed closures.
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To find further details about Tim's campaign to save these Post Offices please read on below.
On Thursday 20th December at 5.30pm in Broadwater Parish Rooms Tim organised a public meeting for local residents concerned by the proposed closure of their local Worthing Post Offices to raise their concerns with representatives of the Post Office.
Four Post Offices in Worthing are under threat of closure and they are:
- The Parade on Broadwater Road Worthing
- Downlands on Upper Brighton Road, Worthing
- Heene Road in Worthing
- The Strand in Worthing
Tim commented:
"Thursday 20th December was the last in a series of meetings I organised to try and make the Post Office understand the strength of feeling amongst local residents against their plans to close seven of the Post Offices in my constituency.
"Over two hundred people turned up at previous public meetings I arranged about these alarming Post Office plans."
Tim brings Post Office petition to Parliament but Minister refuses to mention Adur or Worthing
Tim held an adjournment debate in the House of Commons chamber to protest at the Government's proposed closure of local Post Offices. Tim requested the debate in order to challenge the Minister with responsibly for Royal Mail - Pat McFadden MP who is Parliamentary Secretary at the Cabinet Office to listen to the concerns of the residents of Worthing and Adur.
In a sixty-eight minute speech Tim pleaded for the Government to acknowledge that the situation of Post Offices earmarked for closure in Adur and Worthing should be reconsidered. He was joined by West Worthing MP Peter Bottomley who has also been campaigning to save his constituency's sub Post Office branches. In his reply to Tim the Government Minister Pat McFadden talked generally about Post Offices and refused to mention, even once, the specific problems with Post Offices in Adur or Worthing - despite being challenged by Tim to do so three occasions.
The Post Office Ltd are closing 9 Post Offices in Worthing and Adur and over the last five weeks over 5000 people have signed the petition Tim launched in order to stop these cuts. Customers have been signing up at Post Offices and online on Tim's website. At the end of the debate last night Tim presented the petition to Parliament.
Over the past few weeks Tim has received hundreds of emails and letters asking him to do everything within his power to stop these closures. He has also led public meetings and marches to demonstrate against them.
During the debate Tim commented
"The Post Office consultation is due to close on Christmas Eve and if Royal Mail go ahead with these cuts it will be the worst ever Christmas present for my constituents.
"The proposed cuts fail to take into account house-building forecasts, population growth, deprivation and large pensioner numbers. My constituents are concerned about the effect these closures will have on our local community.
"I have received letter after letter outlining people's fears that they will no longer be able to access their pensions. Our bus services are infrequent and for elderly people who have limited mobility they do not go anywhere near enough to many of their houses or the Post Office braches which will remain open.
"Many people will now use their cars to access Post Offices rather than walk for miles. This will have a very negative effect on our carbon footprint. I cannot believe that the Post Office have not taken the environmental impact of these closures into account during their consultation."
After the debate Tim commented:
"I hope the Minister will now insist that Royal Mail re-access the criteria which they are using to determine whether to close these vital Post Offices. Although I fear that there is little hope of that as he refused to reply to my comments on the Post Offices in Adur and Worthing.
"My constituency is being stripped of hospitals, post offices and bus services left right and centre - it is time someone from Government took responsibility for it and put and end to it."
On Thursday 20th December at 5.30pm in Broadwater Parish Rooms (opposite Broadwater Green on Broadwater Street West) Tim has organised a public meeting for local residents concerned by the proposed closure of their local Worthing Post Offices to raise their concerns directly with representatives of the Post Office. Everybody who cares about their local Post Office is encouraged to attend.
MP and Residents on March to Save North Lancing Post Office
This Saturday 8th December East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton joined 80 residents and local councillors who braved extremely wet weather conditions to pace out the most direct route to the nearest alternative Post Office branch to North Lancing Post Office - which the Post Office are threatening to close.
The walk to this Post Office, the main Lancing Post Office on North Road, involved crossing the notoriously dangerous A27 near Manor Roundabout. One of the protestors used a trundle wheel to measure out exactly how long the walk was.
When the rain sodden but still high spirited and vocal demonstrators reached Lancing main Post Office they were joined by further protestors and they formed a long queue to buy their postal goods.
Tim commented:
"This was a fantastic turn out from North Lancing residents who came out, despite appalling weather conditions, to show how passionate they are about their Post Office on Mill Road.
"So much for the 0.9 mile limit which the Post Office say they have put on the alternative Post Office destinations if these closures go ahead. For many people who live North of the Mill Road Post Office or in parts of North Sompting, a round trip could be as long as 4 miles, especially if residents opt to take safe routes across the A27.
"The march provided yet further evidence that the main Lancing Post Office is already under enormous pressure and will be completely unable to cope if these closures go ahead.
"The campaign by North Lancing residents to save their Post Office is well organised and it is time for the Post Office to start listening to their very real concerns."
Mass Turnout at Post Office Public Meetings
On Saturday (1st December) just over two hundred local Sompting and Lancing residents turned out to two packed public meetings, organised by East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton, to question Post Office representatives about their plans to close down Post Offices vital to the local community.
There was standing room only at Sompting Community Centre where over 70 people turned out to save Bowness Avenue Post Office and in Lancing over 130 people turned out to the meeting at North Lancing First and Middle School to save Mill Road Post Office.
Local residents were most concerned by the extra distance that would have to be travelled to reach the next nearest Post Office. This would be a particular problem for the elderly population and it was noted that although the Post Office have calculated it is 0.9 miles from Bowness Road Post Office to the next nearest Post Office in Lancing they have not taken into account the fact that many people live well beyond the Post Office. And also that in order to take a safe route and to avoid crossing the busy A27 at a dangerous place residents will have to add another mile to this predicted 0.9 mile journey.
There has also been a recent spate of pensioner muggings and bag snatchings - this longer travelling distance will put them at greater risk.
The findings of a week long survey of all the customers who used North Lancing Post Office, which was carried out by North Lancing Residents Action Group, into the environmental cost of these closures was of concern to many of those present. Eighty per cent of North Lancing's Post Office users said that if it closed down they would drive to their next nearest post office. A massive thirty-one acres of trees would have to planted in order to offset this increase in Adur's carbon footprint.
At the meetings it was also pointed out that Lancing Business Park is next to Bowness Post Office and that all of the 160 businesses surveyed so far were strongly against the closure of their local Post Office. Those attending also raised concern about the threat to local shops, which make up the heart of Adur's community, if the closures of these Post Offices go ahead.
Tim commented:
"The fact that so many local residents turned out to make their views heard on these absurd proposals to close local Post Offices proves just how essential these services are to my constituents.
"I hope that the Post Office representatives who were present have now begun to understand the strength of concern amongst residents about their proposals and that they will reconsider their alarming plans.
"Under Post Office plans, East Worthing and Shoreham will lose 7 of its branches - this is more than any other constituency in West Sussex. The Post Office are advocating an 18% closure of Post Offices nationally and yet a massive 60% of branches in Sompting and Lancing. Why?
"Thousands of people have already signed my petition to save local Post Offices. Anyone who hasn't already can do so below. A hard copy of the petition can be downloaded here."
On 13th November the Post Office Ltd (POL) announced the names of the nine post offices which they think it is necessary to close in the Worthing and Adur area. A six week public consultation is now taking place to ensure that the views of local people are into account before any final decisions on closures are made. Tim is pictured below with local residents campiagning to save these post offices.
Post offices earmarked for closure in Worthing and Adur are as follows:
- Bowness Avenue on Seadown Parade, Sompting
- The Parade on Broadwater Road Worthing
- Downlands on Upper Brighton Road, Worthing
- Old Shoreham on Upper Shoreham Road
- North Lancing on Mill Road, Lancing
- South Lancing on South Street, Lancing
- West Beach on Beach Green, Shoreham by Sea
- Heene Road in Worthing
- The Strand in Worthing
Local MPs Tim Loughton and Peter Bottomley launched a petition to protest at these threatened closures and are encouraging all local residents to sign up to it. An amazing 6217 people signed it and Tim presented it to both Parliament and the Post Office itself in December.
During the first week of the consultation Tim visited every post office under threat in his constituency. Here he is pictured outside Old Shoreham Post Office...
And here local councillor Brian Turner and sub-postmaster Mr Myring are pictured outside The Parade Post Office on Broadwater Road.
On Friday 16th November Tim and Bowness Post Office sub-posters Brian and Carol Attwater organised a march in protest at the cuts. Tim and local campaigners and local customers marched to the nearest alterative post office branch in Lancing to highlight the local access problems which will arise if Bowness Post Office is closed. The march was supported by the Shoreham and Worthing Herald and other local media and as well being featured on the BBC and Meridian. Tim is pictured below at the start of the march -outside Bowness Post Office.
In October last year the Conservative Party produced an Action Plan to save local post offices which would involve giving Sub-Post Offices greater freedoms to offer a wider range of commercial products, pushing for more Post Offices to be 'one stop shops' for central government services, campaigning to save the Post Office Card Account from being axed and encouraging local councils to consider opening 'council counters' in local branches.
This Action Plan would have saved many local post offices from closure and yet the Government ignored it. Instead of providing an alternative route for sub-post offices to flourish by allowing them to diversify their businesses, the Government has seen fit to simply manage their decline by closing a huge swathe of them.
Tim's action plan to save our Post Offices
- Give sub-Post Offices more freedom to offer a wider range of business services.
- Push for more Post Offices to be "One Stop Shops" - trained staff could then advise on a range of matters including tax returns, pension entitlements, the opening hours of local pharmacies, how to apply for a disabled parking badge etc.
- Encourage local Councils to open "Council Counters" in local branches.
- Allow the Post Office to work with carriers other than the Royal Mail.
- Prevent the Royal Mail taking business away from sub-Post Offices by under cutting the prices they can charge for postage.
Tim is appalled by the suggested closures and has commented:
"Just when you thought it was safe to lay down your KWASH protest banners the post office turns up to try and close our local branches.
"Post Office services in East Worthing and Shoreham have already been cut to the bone and further cuts are complete madness. Our post offices are an essential community service but it seems that the Government will not be satisfied until they have closed every last one.
"We have a large elderly population and Post Offices are particularly valuable to them. It is simply unrealistic to think that a situation where people have to walk a mile to a post office or reply on inadequate public transport is acceptable.
"In the last round of sub post office cuts we lost nine branches and I often see queues which stretch through the doors and into the street in the remaining branches. If the Government go ahead with these changes they will not only be undermining a vital lifeline to many of my constituents but they will also be handing a death sentence to small shops who rely on post offices to bring business to their parade of shops."
"I would urge everyone to lodge their objections and concerns with the Post Office in the next few weeks and to sign out petition to save our local branches. I have already had a heated meeting in Westminster with post office mangers to express my alarm at the proposed cuts. I will be working in conjunction with local councillors to organise public meetings and street surgeries. These proposed cuts are totally unacceptable and we must fight their implementation all the way."
First the Government cut the NHS. Now they're cutting the Post Office.
- 4,000 Post Offices have already closed under this Government - that's a quarter of the country's Post Office network.
- A Further 2,500 Post Offices are expected to close by 2009.
- As few as 4,000 of Britain's 14,300 Post Offices may survive the decade.
