Post Office Closure Proposals

The Highland Council will respond to the consultation on the 29 post office closures proposed for the region. The Council is extremely disappointed that the UK Government has set a target for the number of closures across the UK and this means that if any post office in the region is saved another will be found for closure.

Undoubtedly the closures will be a blow to many communities. While the Council will finalise its response at a full council meeting in February it urges communities affected to respond to the consultation as well.

Prior to the release of the plan today (Tuesday), the Council was aware that Post Office Ltd had indicated that, because of the UK Government target, between 26 and 46 post offices (13% to 23%) across Highland would be closed. It is proposed that 2 of these will be relocated into other businesses within the community and that for a further 9 offices proposed for closure there will be replacement services provided. The Council welcomes the proposal to provide 4 new Outreach services in rural areas, but is not convinced that this number is sufficient or complies with the UK Government's accessibility criteria.

Councillor Peter Cairns, spokesperson on Post Offices, said: "In the lead up to the publication of the Plan, the Council has already provided a good deal of information to Post Office Limited to urge them to keep the number of closures to a minimum and to consider how to provide new post office services to areas under-served at the moment.

"Our next task is to reply formally to the consultation by the middle of February. In doing that we will be checking that the Government criteria have been applied properly and that the communities affected are consulted properly by Post Offices Ltd.

"The Council is particularly disappointed regarding the application of the distance criteria. For the new outreach services this has been applied 'as the crow flies' rather than by road distance which is particularly inappropriate for rural areas. The Council estimates that a further 21 postcode districts should be considered for new outreach services.

"We are also concerned that Post Office Ltd has confirmed that any Post Office on the closure list which is to remain open following the consultation will have to be substituted by another for closure. This puts the Council and our communities in the unfortunate position of knowing that should our efforts to save some of our post offices be successful, others within Highland will be closed."

The Council is urging those communities affected to respond directly to consultation to Post Office Ltd. Representatives from Post Office Ltd will be attending events across those areas affected in the coming weeks and the Council is encouraging people to attend these events and let their views be heard.

People can also respond by either writing or emailing:

Sally Buchanan
Network Development Manager
c/o National Consultation Team
Freepost Consultation Team

consultation@postoffice.co.uk

The Council has set up a discussion forum on its website and will forward the comments received to Post Office Ltd.

http://thc.highlandlife.net/post_office_consultation

Notes on the Government Criteria
Distance Criteria:

• Nationally 99% of the UK population to be within 3 miles and 90% of the population to be within 1 mile of their nearest post office outlet.
• 99% of the total population within urban deprived areas across the UK to be within 1 mile of their nearest post office outlet.
• 95% of the total urban population across the UK to be within 1 mile of their nearest post office outlet.
• 95% of the total rural population across the UK to be within 3 miles of their nearest post office outlet.
• 95% of the population of each postcode district to be within 6 miles of their nearest post office outlet.

In addition, the following issues are to be taken into account:

1. public transport availability
2. alternative access to key post office services
3. impact upon local demographics
4. impact upon local economies
5. no community of interest or group should be disadvantaged by closure.

Post Office Closure Details

POL proposes to close the following post offices outright:

North	Mid	South
Barrock	Breakish	Abriachan
Pulteneytown	Contin	Kingsmills, Inverness
Saltburn	Duncanston	Harbour Street, Nairn
Spittal	Earlish
	Killearnan
	Maryburgh
	Rosemarkie
	Onich (currently closed)
	Treslaig (currently closed)
	West End, Dingwall
	Waternish

The following post offices have been identified for closure but will be relocated to another business in the community providing the same or higher service hours:

Post Office	Business Relocating to:
Ardersier	Pharmacy
North Kessock	Spar Shop

The following post offices have been identified for closure but will be replaced by an outreach service within the local area:

Post Office	Type of Outreach	Proposed Location
Cawdor	Mobile Van	POL will consider a better facility /venue if available
Canisbay	Mobile Van	Village Hall Car Park
Croy	Hosted	Village Hall
Edderton	Hosted	Village Hall
Farr	Hosted	Community Hall
Kildary	Hosted	Ken's Garage
Kirkhill	Hosted	Doctor's Surgery
Latheron	Mobile Van	Village Hall Car Park
Mid Clyth	Mobile Van

An additional four outreach services have been proposed for areas that do not currently meet the Government's access criteria:

Area	Type of Outreach	Proposed Location
Torridon	Hosted	Community Hall
Laggan	Hosted	Community Resource Centre
Tomatin	Hosted	County Inn Pub
PH35	Home Service	N/A