Letter from Anne McIntosh MP
Thank you for your invitation to submit evidence
to the Post Office enquiry. I hope the following remarks may be
helpful.
The Network change consultation is flawed from
the outset. There has been insufficient time to consult adequate
numbers of those who are affected by the proposals. There has
also been insufficient meetings and access to the Royal Mail to
explain proposals.
The proposals will deprive rural areas of vital
services. They will hit the most vulnerable the hardest, those
living in sparsely populated, isolated villages, notably pensioners,
those on benefits and those with young families living in rural
communities with poor access to public transport.
If the changes go through, I would imagine that
only 4,500 of those living in the Vale of York will be within
three miles of a Post Office, well below the 95% national average
figure claimed by the Post Office Group. Given the geographical
location and physical position of the Post Offices in the Vale
of York with long, windy roads giving poor access, the measurements
that are made from each Post Office should be via road access
and not a straight line measurement.
A huge number of my constituents have also written
to me outlining their concerns:
The Linton Post Office serves at least two villages,
and the neighbouring Post Office is Tollerton, also proposed for
closure, therefore widening the area that will no longer have
access.
Closures will force people to travel to Great
Ouseburn, requiring them to cross a river with a toll bridge costing
40p each way. This bridge is also due to close for refurbishment.
Linton Post Office has increased its volume of
business and is profitable.
Linton Post Office serves over 200 local populations
(Linton, Newton, Aldwark) with around 50 businesses and 900 working
personnel at RAF Linton On Ouse.
There is no public transport link with Ouseburn
or Grafton Post Offices. There is an infrequent bus service to
Skelton but timings do not allow sensible journeys—ie return
with 20 minutes or face over a two hour wait. Mothers with young
children will have to pay bus fares.
In addition to the above, there is a 300 metre
walk to Skelton Post Office to and from the bus stop, crossing
the A19 (there is no pedestrian crossing point, or bus shelter,
or seat to rest on or access to toilets).
The Tollerton Post Office is the hub of the
village and serves to get elderly people out their homes and in
doing so helps to remove social isolation in this predominately
rural area.
Any post office closure in Tollerton might contribute
to forcing more elderly people to move out of the village and
thereby further reducing social cohesion.
There are real concerns over the economic criteria
behind the proposed changes to the Post Office Network in rural
areas. The plans appear to convert successful economically viable
sub-Post Offices into Outreach or earmark them for closure while
keeping open those which are not commercially successful.
This smacks of a hidden agenda and a programme
intent on the eventual closure of more post offices on a grand
scale destroying the rural Post Office structure in the Vale of
York. These changes are simply a body blow to rural communities
living in North Yorkshire and must be resisted. I do not feel
that there is enough recognition for the special role rural sub-Post
Offices play as part of the fabric and social infrastructure of
daily life.
9 January 2008
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