When did you last pop down to your local post office? If you’ve been recently, you’ll probably have spotted a petition to sign. If you haven’t been for a while, take care – it could be shut by Christmas.
The government wants to close 2,500 small post offices. That’s four or five fewer in every constituency.
They’re going to choose which ones to shut by counting customers and
using a “three mile rule”. The government says that you only need a
post office within three miles of your house. On that basis at least
nine village post offices in my Sevenoaks constituency could be shut
because they each have an alternative post office within three miles.
But they measure the three miles as the crow flies. Fine if you’re a
crow. In fact, it could be an eight or ten mile round trip by car,
costing you more petrol (and adding to your carbon footprint). But what
if you don’t have a car or a friend who can drive you?
Crows and flying may be relevant in London where people can hop on the
tube or on a bus. But rural buses don’t go as the crow flies. In fact,
in west Kent buses hardly seem to connect up villages at all.
Using the three mile rule shows that the government simply doesn’t
understand rural communities. They don’t appreciate that public
transport has almost disappeared.
But there’s a bigger point. The post office is the heart of a village:
rip it out and there’s little left of local life. The post office is
where people meet and chat; it’s where the sub-postmistress might
notice that a pensioner living alone has failed to make a regular visit.
The review is underway now in west Kent. In the autumn we’ll learn
which post offices are ear-marked for closure. There will then be six
weeks public consultation. Closures could be confirmed by Christmas.
But we’ve learnt over the years that once proposals are put out for
“consultation”, that’s pretty well it. It’s usually too late to get
these decisions reversed.
So we need to mobilise now. Let’s create a fuss. Let’s use our post offices as much as we can. Sign a petition or start one.
Some post offices are already fighting back. Linda Wheeler,
sub-postmistress in Kemsing, has organised a huge petition. My own post
office in Sundridge is doing the same. I hope others will follow suit.
Public opinion will be crucial. It helped secure the future of Sevenoaks Hospital. It could help save your village post office.
