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City Council opposes Post Office closures

30 May 2008 - Norwich City Council will be responding to the consultation on proposed Post Office closures to say that no Norwich branches should be closed.

At Wednesday's meeting of Norwich City Council's Executive Committee, councillors approved the recommendations of the City Council's Scrutiny Committee. Last week Scrutiny Committee councillors questioned national representatives of the Post Office about the reasons for the proposed closures and the suggested alternatives. The committee concluded that the three branches in the City Council area that are threatened with closure (on Bowthorpe Road, Vauxhall Street and Rosary Road) should remain open.

The Scrutiny Committee outlined the following reasons for protecting the branches:

They provide a vital service to the local community. Closure would increase the level of social exclusion to people in these communities. These branches are in areas of social deprivation.
The committee is extremely concerned that users are being redirected to the Castle Mall post office. Castle Mall is already overcrowded and more difficult to access for many people.
The committee has concerns about the information collected by the Post Office so far, especially the demographic statistical data which is based on the 2001 census.
Instead of asking local councillors and communities to say that some branches should stay and others should go, the Government and national Post Office should be providing greater support to local branches and enabling them to offer a greater range of services.
The Post Office has not taken previous closures into account when deciding which branches to propose for closure.

Claire Stephenson, Green Party Councillor and Chair of the City Council's Scrutiny Committee, said: "The consultation seems to be about Post Office representatives asking members of the public to give them information they should have already collected. Post Offices are extremely important in local communities and we haven't heard sufficient evidence to justify the closure of any branch in the city. When Norwich is growing as fast as it is, I find it hard to believe that the Post Office is using data from 2001. I am pleased that the City Council is opposing the proposed Post Office closures and I hope that the decision-makers listen to these views and the evidence presented."

The consultation on the proposed closures ends on Monday 2 June 2008. A decision is expected in late June.