Herefordshire condemns post office consultation as a sham

Herefordshire Council has condemned the recent review of post offices in the county as a sham. Councillors unanimously supported an emergency motion at a full council meeting today (Friday 31 October 2008) put by council leader Roger Phillips, which dismissed the recent six-week consultation by Post Office Limited as 'a total waste of time'.

The council had warned back in August that people were 'deeply cynical' of the consultation process before it had started, suspecting Post Office Limited of a 'done deal'. On 29 October, Post Office Limited announced the closure of ten post offices in Herefordshire and said that a further eight would be changed to an 'outreach scheme' with a reduced and limited service.

Councillors from across the political parties spoke of their anger or dismay at the consultation process and that the closures would hit vulnerable, elderly and disabled people hardest.

Councillor Phillips said that Post Office Limited had engineered the structuring of the geographical area for the consultation by splitting the established sub regional economic region of the Black Country and lumping urban Walsall, Wolverhampton and Dudley with rural Herefordshire and Worcestershire. This ensured that 95 per cent of the population could be said to be within easy travelling distance of a post office. The move was 'a deliberate and devious plot', added Councillor Phillips, as was the closure of Postwatch, the post office watchdog group, during the consultation period.

The council is to investigate whether it can secure a judicial review of the process and work with other local authorities and local government bodies to lobby for a reversal of the decision.

"This council calls on our Members of Parliament and our Local Government Association to expose this process as a sham and urges the government to demonstrate genuine commitment to sustainable communities," said Councillor Phillips.

The council also vowed to continue to oppose the closure of Tudorville Post Office - the only branch in the county subject to further review - but warned that because one post office in the consultation area (in Walsall) had been saved, it could mean the closure of yet one more in Herefordshire.