Post office summit
 On Thursday 6 March, 45 community leaders from
across Kent attended a meeting to examine the recent post
office closures in the county.
We organised the summit at Oakwood House, Maidstone, with Church
in Society, Action with Communities in Rural Kent, and the Kent
Association of Local Councils.
During the meeting community leaders and representatives:
- examined practical measures to help communities replace
services that were previously provided by local branches
- discussed preparations for the future challenges of providing
post office services in the county
- heard case studies from other communities
- listened to key note speeches about the importance of post
offices in ensuring that communities remain sustainable
The meeting was jointly chaired by Rt Revd, Stephen Venner, the
Bishop of Dover and
Roger
Gough, KCC Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Supporting
Independence.
At the meeting, Roger Gough agreed with calls for a closer
examination of the remaining post office network to make sure that
it is robust enough to sustain a further review. Following the
pattern of reviews in recent years, there are strong suspicions
that another review will take place in two or three years'
time.
Cllr Gough commented: "We're committed to working with the
communities to help them cope with the impact of post office
closures and now is the time to offer practical help, so they can
move forward.
"However, there is also still a job to do for the future. We are
still pursuing Post Office Ltd to give us the information that they
have so far refused to supply. With that information we can better
understand the impact of the current closures and direct resources
to deal with that."
Background to the campaign
Kent was one of the first areas in the country to have undergone
a government-led review of the post office network aimed at finding
savings through closures.
From the start we have been very concerned about the impact that
these closures will have on Kent's communities and businesses.
We believe that the six weeks for consultation on the
proposed closures set by the government and
Post Office Ltd (link opens in a new window) to
collect local views was far too short.
We asked resident's to support local post offices by taking part
in our online petition to urge Post Office Ltd to implement a
longer consultation period to allow enough time for residents to
respond. The consultation period closed on 12 November.
We also invited you to tell us what impact post office closures
would have on you, via an online questionnaire.
Feedback from our campaign
We received hundreds of letters, emails and petition signatures
in response to our campaign to support Kent's post offices.
The results of our online survey have also highlighted the value
of Kent's sub-post offices, with 98% of respondents stating that
their post office had an important role in their local community,
and 91% stating that their quality of life would be affected by
closure of their local post office.
73% of respondents also stated that they use a post office
within half a mile from where they live, with 80% travelling on
foot. This will not be possible if their local branch closes and
will mean more car journeys, more carbon emissions and less
independence for vulnerable residents.
Many Post Office branches are often co-located with a shop and
the survey found that many respondents used the attached shop two
to three times a week. This shows a clear correlation between
visits to the post office and purchases from the attached business,
highlighting the devastating impact on trade that these closures
could have.
We sent a formal response to the Post Office Ltd that included a
summary of key points received from our online survey and the many
letters and comments received. |