CITY OF PRESTON LABOUR PARTY

Preston Labour Party is to launch a campaign to save post offices named for closure in Preston, following the recent announcements of the branches that were due to close.

Labour Councillors were pleased to see that post offices in areas like Ashton, Larches, Tulketh and Fishwick are not due to close, despite scaremongering from the Liberal Democrats.

However, the following branches have been named for closure; Deepdale, St Matthews, Ribbleton and in Town Centre.

Labour Councillors have also expressed concern that, while rural post services may benefit from an Outreach pilot scheme, the urban areas will not have a scheme to help.

The closures come about as part of a nationwide scheme to cut losses of £4 million a week in the post office system. This is despite over £2 billion of investment and subsidy for the post office service by the Labour Government. There have also been changes in internet technology and increasing use of bank accounts for pension payments place substantial pressure on the industry.

Speaking on behalf of the Labour group, Councillor John Collins said ‘We know that this will be a very difficult time for some communities in Preston, rural and urban alike. However, it is worth saying that the list of closures would have been a lot worse if it were not for the investment made by the government.

Our Councillors are already getting ready to raise public awareness of the closures and encourage response from affected residents. There are examples across the country of successful post office campaigns and we’ll be looking to emulate those campaigns here in Preston.’

The campaign also has the support of Preston MP Mark Hendrick. He said ‘The scale of the proposed closures is unacceptable and we will oppose them wholesale. If it were the case that there were only one or two closed that were unprofitable, then it would be seen to be reasonable, but that is not the case.’

The consultation starts on Jan 22nd - you can see the online consultation documents here

We will be adding further information as the campaign progresses.

• From a peak of some 25,000 offices in the mid-1960s, the Post Office network began to decline in size as early as 1970. The network continued to contract with some 6,000 ad hoc closures having taken place by 1997
• Since 1999, the Government has made an investment in the Post Office network of some £2 billion to help it adapt to the changing needs of customers and to the marketplace in which it operates
• Currently we have over 14,000 post offices - 8 x the number of Tesco stores, and more than all the banks put together
• On average the 800 smallest rural post offices served just 16 people a week at a cost to the taxpayer of £17 per visit - even if this was just to buy a stamp. A total of 1,600 branches served fewer than 20 customers a day - losing £8 for every transaction
• 8.5 million out of a total of 10.8 million pensioners now get their pensions paid into a bank account
• An increasing number of people are choosing to renew their tax disc online. Last year over 3 million people renewed their tax disc online
• Residents are being urged not to use petitions, as the Post Office counts a petition as a single statement of protest, regardless how many signatures that there are. Instead, they are being urged to write directly to the Post Office to describe their concerns.
• The Labour campaign will contact affected residents directly with advice on how to respond.
• Despite Liberal Democrat scaremongering, post offices in Tulketh, Ashton, Larches, Cadley, Ingol, Plungington and Fishwick are not due to close. We are very concerned that a lot of time will need to be spent on explaining to thousands of residents that their post office is not to close, thanks to the irresponsible behaviour of Liberal Democrats councillors and their misinformation.