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Flood of closures threatens post office network
THE full extent of Yorkshire's shrinking post office network is revealed today in stark figures showing that more than a quarter of outlets have closed in just eight years.
Analysis by the Yorkshire Post revealed the number of branches open in the region fell from 1,647 in 1999 to 1,232 last year – a drop of just over 25 per cent – before the current closure programme began.
Click here to view the table of closures
By the end of the year, once the Post Office's plans to close 2,500 branches nationwide are complete, there are almost certain to be fewer than 1,100 branches in the region, a third less than eight years ago.
The figures provide a stark illustration of how far the network has shrunk in recent years, meaning elderly people and those in isolated rural communities find it increasingly difficult to get to their local branch.
Although some branches have been replaced with mobile post offices or services in village halls or pubs, critics claim communities are losing a lifeline. Post office chiefs say the closures are necessary because of losses of 3m a week and falling numbers of users.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the figures were "astonishing", while the Tories warned the postal network was facing "death by a thousand cuts". Both parties called for the current closure programme to be suspended, a move backed by some rebel Labour MPs.
Mr Clegg said: "The Government's wilful neglect of the post office network has resulted in damaging closures that are ripping the hearts out of many communities all over Yorkshire.
"Labour's post office closure programme will have a huge impact on the elderly and most vulnerable members of our community as well as hitting small businesses. It is astonishing that Yorkshire will be left with around 1,100 post offices."
Tory Shadow Business Secretary Alan Duncan added: "The shameful record of Gordon Brown's decade of financial neglect at the Treasury is that Labour has closed down post offices faster than any other government. Villages have lost their only shop and thousands of people have lost a service they depended on.
"The Prime Minister has never understood the significance of post offices as a lifeline for all kinds of people, from small business owners to single mothers and the elderly. As a result the Government refused to explore the alternatives to this latest forced closure programme, which they are stubbornly pressing ahead with despite opposition from many MPs on both sides of the House.
"Thanks to Gordon Brown, our postal network is facing death by a thousand cuts."
While critics point out that 3,500 post offices closed under the Tories, some 3,537 closed in England under Labour between 1999 and 2007, before the current 2,500 are taken into account, according to figures uncovered in the House of Commons library.
In 1999 there were 14,416 branches, but just 10,879 eight years later.
Just under 2,500 closed as part of the urban reinvention programme in the early 2000s which cut the number of branches in towns and cities, but the number in rural areas has also been slashed.
Labour MPs including Hull North's Diana Johnson and Business Secretary John Hutton – whose Department agreed the 2,500 closure plans – have come under fire for supporting the programme while campaigning to save particular branches in their constituencies.
The latest Network Change Programme has already seen 42 branches closing in East Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and Bassetlaw, and 29 in North Yorkshire and Keighley. About 40 outreach services will be put in place to help those who lose out.
The programme aims to stemming post service losses and is backed up by a 1.7bn subsidy from the Government over the next few years to keep other branches open.
A six-week consultation is currently taking place in West Yorkshire, where 63 branches are threatened with closure but there are no planned outreach services in their place.
South Yorkshire, Huddersfield and Colne Valley will discover how many branches are planned for closure in their areas in August.
However, communities facing closures in the latest round have been given some hope by local authorities. Kirklees Council announced yesterday it would examine in detail a range of options to keep post services in all 10 areas in North Kirklees where existing offices are earmarked for closure.
Half could be retained in their current state, while others could be merged with shops or other services, although the council admitted it was not realistic for all existing buildings to be retained.
Selby Labour MP John Grogan, who backed the attempts to stop the latest closures, said: "These figures show starkly how post offices have disappeared from many Yorkshire communities.
"I don't think this is a trend that started in 1999, but it has continued unabated."
A Department for Business spokesman said four million fewer people were using the post office each week than two years ago and Post Offices were losing 500,000 every day.
"On average fewer than 16 people a week use the 800 smallest rural post offices at a cost of 17 per visit to the taxpayer, and 1,600 branches served fewer than 20 customers a day, losing 8 for every transaction," the spokesman said.
A Post Office spokesman insisted that at the end of the closure programme 90 per cent of the population would still live within one mile of a post office, while 99 per cent of the population would be within three miles.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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