Rural Community Gateway

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) are currently consulting on the future of the post office network. Postwatch Scotland recently placed a questionnaire on their website, on the Rural Gateway and sent it electronically to stakeholders.

Postwatch received a total of 127 responses by the closing date of 14th February 2007, with many Rural Gateway users taking part. The information gathered will be used to inform Postwatch Scotland’s response to the DTI.

Tricia Dow, director of Postwatch Scotland said, "Postwatch Scotland would like to thank everyone who took the time to complete our questionnaire on the Department of Trade and Industry's consultation into the post office network. This consultation ends on 8th March and our response to the consultation, which will incorporate findings from this questionnaire will be placed on Postwatch Scotland's website shortly thereafter."

The questionnaire was completed by those in urban or suburban, rural and remote rural areas. While there were some differences in the groups, respondents felt that the number of people using a post office should not be the only criterion used when deciding on closure. Instead, each community should be looked at on a case to case basis.

Many in rural areas thought outreach services, such as mobile units, could be applied to their area. Having an outreach service in the local shop was the most popular option.

However, in remote rural areas, 43% thought outreach services would not be suitable for their area. Restricted hours, disruptive ferry services, and unsuitable locations, like public houses, were cited as reasons.

Postwatch Scotland also found that an overwhelming number of respondents knew very little about the DTI consultation apart from what had been in the press.

The findings are now available in the Rural Gateway document library, so you can read about the results in full. Let us know what you think about the consultation and the questionnaire findings by adding a comment to this article.

Useful links

Link to findings in Rural Gateway document library

Rural Gateway article 'Post office closures update'

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