No Hope for Threatened Post Offices

Post Office closure plan already decided Hounslow Council Leader told

It looks like the post office will press ahead with their closure plans in the face of local opposition.

At the meeting on Wednesday 19 November councillors were told by Senior Post Office officials that new legislation on disability access, and a falling level of return for sub-postmasters, would mean an increase in unplanned closures unless the current proposals were followed through.

However John Chatt, Leader of Hounslow Council, believes that the Post Office is failing to take into account the level of development in Hounslow, with the associated increase in customer demand for post offices services.

“It seems to me that the Post Office has not been looking at each borough’s individual situation before developing their proposals, otherwise they would know that the levels of demand for Post Office services is likely to rocket in the coming years. New developments in Brentford, Feltham and Hounslow will bring more than 4,000 new homes into the borough, yet this wasn’t a factor in the consultation,” John said.

“I can understand that financial pressures will have an impact on the level of service being provided by the smaller post offices but the current plans seem very haphazard and aimed at destroying the very thing that makes them essential; their localness and accessibility. Older people and people with young children or disabilities need access to local facilities or need those facilities to be easily accessible. The discussions on Wednesday seemed to indicate that the Post Office will go ahead with closures.”

The meeting on November 19 was called to enable the representatives of the borough’s five areas to put forward borough-wide responses to the consultation.

November 27, 2003