Rural Community Gateway

Most organisations recognised the challenges currently facing the network and welcomed the consultation. However, many issues were raised in the responses with regards to rural and remote post offices, including the need for loca consultation.

The consultation, which closed on 8th March 2007, included new access criteria and plans for up to 500 new outreach services, as 2,500 post offices could close.

Response round up

You will find below a round up of some of the responses to the consultation. You can find most of these responses in full in the Rural Gateway documents library and will find the Scottish Executive response online.

Lacking in clarity

Postwatch Scotland felt that the consultation dealt with principles but that there was no clarity about what the new post office network would look like and the processes that would be used to achieve it.

Access criteria for Scotland

The Scottish Executive said, "The Executive welcomes the UK Government's recognition that account needs to be taken of rivers, mountains, valleys, motorways, and sea crossings to islands. We would also hope to see other geographical considerations taken into account- for example in deprived communities crossing large open semi-derelict spaces or geographies with a very steep gradient may have implications, particularly for older people and/or the disabled. Against that background, we see no merit in applying access criteria based on distance measured as the crow flies."

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) said that public transport links to the remaining nearest post offices, and affordability of travel and travel times should also be taken into consideration.

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) said, "Island communities must be guaranteed a level of post office service, perhaps geared by population, which recognises that there will often be no other options for accessing services."

Postwatch Scotland said that they "would wish to make the case for a specifically Scottish set of national access criteria to meet the needs of Scotland’s communities."

Social value of post offices

Postwatch Scotland criticised the consultation paper for failing to address the issue of social value of the rural post office network and to put a financial value on it.

They said, "Replacement by occasional outreach services, or by mobile branches, will not compensate for the loss of the associated businesses, or the community focus provided by a PO branch, upon which many remote communities rely."

SCVO said, "The consultation does not adequately address the intangible but very significant value of Post Offices in small remote communities, including islands, as a social hub and a signifier of community identity."

Postwatch Scotland also raised local authorities’ concerns that closures of remote and rural post offices, without adequate outreach replacements, will run counter to their local economic and social policy framework and have a negative impact on local communities.

Community ownership

SCVO welcomed the fact that community ownership was a possible option saying, “There is a wealth of experience in Scotland, and particularly the Highlands & Islands, of community service provision, retail and other co-operatives and, increasingly, community ownership of land and local assets. The energy and initiative demonstrated by communities who have taken on these responsibilities is remarkable and there is no reason why this should not be applied to ownership of post office services. However, any such developments must be fully supported towards achieving sustainability and must not exclude the communities involved from guarantees of access to services.”

Shop front to private dwelling

The National Federation of SubPostmasters would like to see postmasters in rural areas being granted permission by local authorities to turn their premises into private dwellings. They argued that in many rural areas, a private dwelling would be worth four or five times more than if the property was sold as a shop front.

Local consultation needed

The need for local consultation was highlighted by many organisations. The Highlands and Islands Enterprise response conclusion said that their "core, consistent message has been that there is a need for local consultation with the HIE network, Local Authorities and other community planning partners during Post Office Ltd’s planning stage."

Age Concern said, "If services are to be practically linked to the actual ways people live their lives Age Concern considers there is no alternative but to consult them in depth and then act on the findings by designing local services to fit local needs."

While the Scottish Executive response stated, "Robust local consultation arrangements need to be put in place to ensure that communities are able to help shape a sustainable network for the future."

Responses

Scottish Executive response
From Rural Gateway documents library:
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations response
Highlands & Islands Enterprise response
Postwatch Scotland response
Postwatch UK response
Age Concern response
National Federation of SubPostmasters response

If your organisation has responded to the post office consultation and you would like your response to be included in our documents library simply email me at editor@ruralgateway.org.uk

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