Discussing the future of Post Offices

Charlotte Leslie, the Prospective Conservative MP for Bristol North West has revealed that sub-postmasters who want to continue to offer products like bill payments and mobile phone top ups are being hit with a bill of £11,000 from Post Office Ltd. Charlotte has taken advice and is referring the case to the Office for Fair Trade to question a breach of competition rules.

Charlotte said:

“”Post Office Ltd has treated its sub-postmasters, and its customers, disgracefully, and I am investigating with the OFT whether it is actually treating them illegally.

“Post Office Ltd has continually prevented sub-postmasters from taking the initiatives they need to make their branches more profitable. That is one of the reasons the network needs such a large subsidy.

“It is appalling that the Post Office should also crush sub-postmasters whose valuable branches they are closing and penalise them for continuing to provide those services which are so essential to customers who have lost their local Post Office.”

Charlotte Leslie with local protesters campaigning to save Bristol post offices

Charlotte LeslieThe consultation period for campaigning to save our local post offices (www.savepostoffices.com) has now closed, and Charlotte Leslie would like to thank all those who provided overwhelming support for the campaign.

In campaigning to save her local post offices, Charlotte followed the advice of Post Watch, and compiled comprehensive reports listing objective criteria as to why the post offices should be saved.

Read the reports:
1. Middleton Road Post Office
2. Northville Post Office
3. Wellington Hill West Post Office

She received over 1000 petition signatures and comments from local people, and also organised Bristol’s biggest ever Post Office march and queue outside Henleaze Road Post Charlotte LeslieOffice, to demonstrate just how hard it would be for many elderly to make the extra journey, and how disrupted Henleaze road will become on busy postal days.

Bristol Evening Post Headline Post Office Protest Marches

Charlotte said: ” I’d like to thank all those who gave so much support to the campaign to save our local post offices. I was overwhelmed by the support we had for our petition and for our March – which gained coverage from The Evening Post, GWR FM, BBC Radio Bristol and HTV news. That kind of media profile can only help the campaign to save our community’s Post Offices.

Unfortunately, some protesters were not able to make it all the way up the hill to Henleaze Road, which illustrated, very poignantly, that some elderly people simply would not be abel to make the walk to their next nearest Post Office. For the disabled it will be a very unpleasant journey in winter.

We really have done everything we can now, and I’ll be waiting for Post Office Ltd. to announce the results of the consultation.”

Residents campaigning to keep local Post Office open

What do we have to do to get the Government to listen? Despite a massive protest march, over 1000 petition signatures, a full report which I submitted to Post Office Ltd, and literally hundreds of detailed consultation submissions from local residents, the Government is going ahead with its closure of Wellington Hill West Post Office, Northville Road in Filton, Middleton Road in Lawrence Weston and dozens of post offices across the city.

The effect that this will have on local residents cannot be calculated. During my campaign to save our local post offices I have spoken to so many people for whom their local post office is literally a life-line: The elderly who simply have no way of performing daily tasks without their local post office; the disabled who will not be able to make the difficult journey to their next nearest post office – and one war hero who told me how he had sacrificed everything for his country in the second world war and couldn’t understand why the Government was stripping away his local amenities in his old age.

If those in charge of the consultation had actually talked to ordinary people and listened to how they would be effected, perhaps they would have reached a different decision. But as it is, it is hard to believe that the so-called ‘consultation process’ was little more than a PR exercise, and an excuse to go ahead with the closures regardless. The Government seems to be saying, like Catherine Tate’s Lauren, ‘Am I bovvered?’. No wonder people have lost faith in politics, and lost faith when the Government says it is going to ‘listen’. What is particularly amazing is that our local Labour MP voted in favour of the closures in Parliament.

It is unlikely, however hard we exercise our democratic rights, that we are going to be able to reverse these disastrous decisions to close our post offices. But I for one will be looking more closely at the consultation process, and if there is any way we can challenge the decision on the basis that the consultation was flawed, you can be guaranteed we will do it. If you feel that you have evidence that the consultation process was flawed, please get in touch.

I would like to thank, once again, all those residents who campaigned so hard to keep our post offices open. It is testament to a failing regime that nobody seemed to listen. But that doesn’t mean we will stop shouting.

Charlotte Leslie outside Avenue Fuit and Veg with former owners

The campaign is being lead by Charlotte Leslie, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Bristol North West.

Conservatives from across Bristol and South Gloucestershire – including Chris Skidmore, the Parliamentary Candidate for Kingswood – will also be rolling the campaign out across the entire area.

It centres on a constituency-wide door-to-door petition, as well as a series of ‘Use it or Lose it’ publicity drives to support local branches. Bristol North West will be a major focus for the initial roll out of activity. Charlotte has already delivered more than 15,000 petitions against
further post office closure.

Meanwhile, Bristol Conservatives will be distributing more than 10,000 leaflets promoting the importance of using specific post offices under threat, as well as surveys inviting submissions to save the post office.

One of the latest to support the campaign is Cath Branfield, former owner of Avenue Fruit and Veg on Filton Avenue, which has recently just shut its doors to business.

Welcoming the initiative Cath said:

“This is a much needed campaign. Post offices are at the heart of local communities. Since the post office on Filton Avenue closed, business has plummeted and some of us have had to close.

“Now, very sadly, I’ve had to shut up shop only last week. It is too late for me now, but we must fight to keep post offices alive for the services they provide, and the small businesses and communities they support.”

Charlotte stressed the importance of people using local post offices. She said:

“A further 2,500 post offices are to close within a year. Now is the time for people to use their local branch as there can be little doubt that sales figures will determine which branches survive and which perish. We must keep sales figures up.”

Chris Skidmore, the prospective Conservative MP for Kingswood will also be petitioning local areas affected by planned closures, as well as organising a march from post offices under threat to the nearest available post office, in order to highlight the distance elderly people will have to walk if the closures take place.

Chris said: “Our local post offices are an invaluable resource. Many elderly residents are dependent upon them.

“Post offices are often at the heart of the local community, and many nearby shops rely on their trade. Closing valuable branches only adds to the stripping of much needed local services that has already taken place.”

Charlotte outside local post office

Since 1997, Labour have closed 5,000 Post Offices across the country, including nearly one in four Post Offices in Bristol North West.

Now our local Post Offices are once again under threat. The Government has decided that another 2,500 Post Offices must close, so that by 2009 a third of all Post Offices will have to shut their doors.

To fight these closures, Charlotte Leslie launched a petition to protect our Post Offices. If you want to help save our local Post Offices, please fill out the petition on this site. Charlotte comments, “Our Post Offices are at the heart of our communities and are often the cornerstone of local businesses, and they provide a lifeline to older people. But under this Labour government nearly 5,000 branches have already been closed – that’s around ten a week – and Gordon Brown is now looking to shut a third of all Post Offices by 2009. It’s time we said enough is enough. Please sign my petition to keep our Post Offices open!”

The Conservatives plan to:

• Give Sub-Post Offices more freedom to offer a wider range of business services
• Push for more Post Offices to be ‘One Stop Shops’
• Encourage local Councils to open ‘Council Counters’ in local branches
• Allow the Post Office to work with carriers other than the Royal Mail
• Prevent the Royal Mail taking business away from sub-Post Offices by under-cutting the prices they can charge for postage

We, the undersigned, call on the Government to stop its Post Office closure programme in Bristol. We urge the Government to retain investment in the Post Office network, to remove restrictive regulations from Post Office businesses, and to reverse the removal of Government business to safeguard our Post Office network.