Alan Whitehead

YOU CAN’T CLOSE ALDERMOOR WITHOUT CONSULTATION, WHITEHEAD TELLS POST OFFICE NETWORK

Dr Alan Whitehead, Member of Parliament for Southampton Test, has challenged the Post Office Network over its attempt to permanently close the Aldermoor Post Office branch without going through the proper consultation process.

The Aldermoor Post Office Branch was temporarily closed in February 2007 when the host Co-operative store ceased trading.  At that time, the Post Office Network claimed that it was still interested in finding a new retail partner to host the branch and actually requested that Dr Whitehead put them in touch with any local businesses that might be willing to do so.

Working with Coxford Labour Councillor Don Thomas, Dr Whitehead did identify a potential alternative retail partner on the Aldermoor parade who would be willing to host a post office branch as part of his store.  However, when Dr Whitehead passed this information on to the Post Office Network, he was informed that the Network would be making no effort to re-open the store at that time, and that it’s future would be considered as part of the overall review of services in Hampshire to be published later that year.

When the Post Office Network’s Area Plan for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight was published in October, no mention was made of the Aldermoor branch.  The branch’s temporary closure had effectively been made permanent- but without going through the consultation process that all other proposed closures are required to go through.

The Network’s justification for not considering the future of the Aldermoor Branch in the Area Plan for Hampshire is that it only considers branches that were ‘open and trading’ in March 2007.  However, as Dr Whitehead writes in his letter to the Post Office Network:

"the original intention to have it 'open and trading' as set out in your letter was at some stage abandoned by Post Office Ltd – that is, a branch was closed to all intents and purposes without any of the normal procedures of consultation being undertaken."

If the Aldermoor closure had gone through the proper consultation process, it is extremely questionable as to whether it would have been allowed to close.  95% of all urban customers are still supposed to be within 1 road mile of an alternative branch.  However for customers of the closed Aldermoor branch living in the Sandpiper Road area, they are at least 1.5-2 miles away from their closest alternative branches (the Bassett and Maybush branches, respectively).

Dr Whitehead said:

"It is clearly unacceptable for the Post Office Network to use what they themselves as a temporary closure as a means to bypass their own statutory obligation to consult on permanent closures as part of the Hampshire Area Plan.  There are local businesses ready and willing to host a store, and the nearest alternatives are, by the Network’s own criteria, too far away.

"I believe there are two possible ways forward: either the closure of Aldermoor Sub Post Office is consulted on separately as should have been the case when Post Office Ltd stopped trying to recruit a new sub-postmaster, or the future of Aldermoor Post Office should even at this stage, become a part of the consultation on the future of the network and should be subject to the criteria on access to the network applied to other branches. What is clearly not an option is the closure of this branch by fiat, and outside of any agreed procedures."