Councillor condemns Post Office over rural 'closures by stealth'

Many post offices have been forced to shut in the Upper Dales area of the county after sub-postmasters or sub-postmistresses who have either retired or sold up their businesses have not been replaced.

County Councillor John Blackie, yesterday launched a stinging attack on Post Office Limited, claiming that the company is failing to engage with the communities it is supposed to be serving.

The fight to re-open post offices in locations including Bainbridge and Askrigg has now been taken to Richmond MP William Hague, who is being asked to step in to ensure the services are re-instated.

Coun Blackie, who represents the Upper Dales division on North Yorkshire County Council, said: "Post Office Limited is guilty of adopting a policy of closure by stealth, and there seems to be no interest in finding a replacement sub-postmaster to take over the running of the post offices which have either closed or are under threat.

"Dealing with Post Office Limited is an absolute pain – for an organisation that should be steeped in a willingness to engage with the public and demonstrate a culture of communication, it rivals the Freemasons in the way it goes about business.

"Running a rural post office is not going to see you retire to the Bahamas, and the stores are always run on a very tight margin. But people who are dealing with Post Office Limited are finding they are coming up against a brick wall and are instead having to opt for other ways to help the communities they want to serve."

Coun Blackie said nine post offices had closed in Wensleydale and Swaledale since he was elected to North Yorkshire County Council in 1997, and warned another two stores in Thoralby and West Witton face an uncertain future as they are currently up for sale.

If they close, then the only post offices serving the Upper Dales will be in Reeth, Hawes and Leyburn.

Residents living in the Upper Dales' most isolated villages , such as Keld in Swaledale, face a 24-mile round trip to branches in either Hawes or Reeth.

Coun Blackie has written to the county council's incoming chief executive, Richard Flinton, who is due to take up his new post next month, to highlight the problem.

Kate Empsall, who runs Whitfield bed-and-breakfast at Helm, near Askrigg, with her husband, Martin, has been petitioning for the post offices in Askrigg and Bainbridge, both of which closed in 2008, to be re-opened.

Early this year, hopes were raised that the branches could reopen by the spring, but so far neither has re-opened.

Mrs Empsall, who set up her business in 1993 after taking early retirement from her teaching job in York, said: "This new Government is supposed to be protecting rural services such as post offices, so that is why we have written to William Hague.

"We feel really let down by Post Office Limited, and we desperately need these post offices to remain open to ensure that the communities are being served properly."

Post Office Limited admitted that the firm has faced "a very challenging decade" with massive competition from the direct payment of benefits to bank accounts and the huge increase in internet usage.

A spokeswoman maintained efforts are continuing to meet the Government's minimum access criteria, which includes ensuring that 95 per cent of the UK's rural population is within three miles of a post office branch.