PO cutbacks a threat to local communities (From Gazette Series)

PO cutbacks a threat to local communities

COMMUNITIES in Gloucestershire could die out if the government sticks to its decision to cut services at the Post Office, civic leaders have warned.

Groups across the region have also voiced their fears that the decision to cancel a £1 billion Post Office account card contract, which delivers pensions and benefits to more than four million people, could lead to the closure of many Post Office branches in Gloucestershire.

Local pensioner groups and councillors have told the Gazette they are fearful for the future of many communities, particularly rural ones, where people depend on their post offices.

Linda Shepherd, senior manager for Age Concern Gloucestershire, said the cancellation of the contract means all the hard put into helping people cope with the new account card system has been for nothing and could further distance the elderly from the wider community.

She said: "We were until recently involved in a Government-funded project to identify people who had not yet transferred to an account card.

"On one hand people are being encouraged to ditch their order books and open post office accounts but now having had this new system imposed upon them we are now being told that in four years time the elderly are going to have to make new arrangements.

"Gloucestershire is a very rural county and we could see the closure of many rural post offices as a consequence of this cancellation which in turn would isolate the majority of older people."

Cllr Paul Hemming, (Lib Dem, Kingswood) expressed similar concerns for the elderly, particularly those living in the Kingswood area, and said it was ridiculous to scrap a relatively new scheme.

He said: "I wish they would make their minds up. The government seems determined to make it difficult for anybody to either pay money in or take money out. Not everybody has a computer and certainly not many elderly people have that sort of access.

"If Post Offices have to close it's difficult to say what would happen. Some are more than just Post Offices, like Kingswood some include a store and people go a long, have their daily chat with friends, take out some money and buy some essentials. Everybody's happy."

Post Offices in Wotton-under-Edge and Cam have already managed to ward off the threat of closure in recent years but the government's decision to withhold this money could be another nail in the coffin for the public amenity and the services it offers.

The decision to allow pensions and benefits to be paid directly into bank and building society accounts has already slashed 9 million visitors to the Post Office and since then, the government has implemented a closure programme of 3,000 Post Offices nationwide including branches in Frampton Cotterell, Hambrook and Thornbury.

Colin Baker, the general secretary of the National Federation of Sub Postmasters, said that the potential closures were a very serious issue for communities.

He added: "I was disgusted when I found out. This is very serious. I believe this will close thousands of post offices and restrict people's choice - a choice they fought to preserve.

"The government has to make up its mind about what it wants from the Post Office. If you take a post office out of the community, the community dies."