East Lothian Courier  Thursday 15/12/06

FEARS that some of East Lothian ’s 20 post offices will be forced to close have been raised.

Trade and Industry Secretary Alastair Darling was due to address the House of Commons yesterday (Thursday) on the future of post offices nationwide.

Speculation has been rife about the number of closures, with some reports suggesting that 800 of Scotland ’s 1,600 post offices could close. Many rural post offices, which could be at risk, have suffered with many people paying council tax or television licences by telephone or the internet.

George Thomson, a Tranent sub-postmaster and the Scottish executive officer for the National Federation of Postmasters, is hoping for decisive action.

“The sub-postmasters in East Lothian don’t want to be left withering on the vine,” he said. “They want to know quickly if there isn’t a future for them so they can get on with their lives.

“There are 20 offices in East Lothian and things have got a lot quieter in the last five or six years. Shopping habits have changed and business has been falling away due to this.

But the Government’s policies have also been devastating.

“They’ve allowed their own departments to take work away from the Post Office, which accounts for millions and millions of transactions nationally.

“We want the Government to tell sub-post offices what kind of network they want. They talk about how important post offices are to rural communities but nothing in their policies reflects this. If the Government gave us more work they’d have to subsidise us less, it’s that simple,” he said.

Anne Moffat, MP for East Lothian , said: “Post offices are very important for rural communities, but if they aren’t sustainable then things will have to be looked at.

“The Post Office has to be treated like any other business when the Government is handing out work. It’s not as easy as giving all the services to the post office to keep it going, it has to be economical.”

Ambrose Young, sub-postmaster at Elphinstone for the past 14 years, said: “This has been an ongoing process and the news of more closures is no surprise to me. It is backdoor privatisation. They are trying to get rid of the less profitable rural post offices so they are left with the viable urban ones which they will then sell off.

“My customers, especially the older ones, are asking me what’s going to happen. I think Elphinstone may be particularly vulnerable to closure as we are only a mile from Tranent. But even the trip down there will be difficult for some of my older customers.”

THE LAST POST

Ministers set to axe half of all post offices Villagers' outrage at devastating rural cuts

By Billy Paterson

HALF of Scotland 's post offices are set to be shut down in a Government-backed cost-cutting scheme.

Ministers are expected to greenlight Royal Mail proposals to close 800 branches north of the border within the next few days.

The move has sparked outrage in rural villages, where the post offices are "the vital backbone of communities".

Royal Mail bosses want to scrap half of the 14,500 post offices nationwide - with 800 of Scotland 's 1600 branches going.

Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling is due to make a statement on the future of the post office network next week. But last night, John Swinney - the SNP's Shadow Finance and Public Services Minister - called on the Scottish Executive to take a stand against the closures.

He said: "Such closures are bound to hit Scotland particularly hard.

"Post Offices, particularly rural ones, are a vital backbone of our communities.

"If the London Government agrees to these plans there is a real danger of damage being done to the fabric of rural Scotland and the sustainability of many rural communities.

"It is absolutely vital the Scottish Executive demands the Government provide a secure future for rural offices.

In the Highlands , Anne MacLeod, 50, a sub postmistress in Lochinver, Ross-shire, described the Royal Mail proposals as "scandalous".

She added: "They just want rid of us and are not listening.

"Since they took the TV licence payments away from post offices here in June people have to travel 38 miles to Ullapool to pay for it.

"If we are closed, it will be the same for every service." The same fury was expressed by rural offices at the other end of the country in Glenluce, Galloway.

Sub postmistress Lorraine King claimed closures would devastate the local economy.

She said: "The bank in the village doesn't have a cash machine and it is only open three days a week.

"We dispense tens of thousands of pounds to villagers every week and that cash is put back into the local economy.

"If we close, our customers would have to travel 15 miles to Stranraer or 10 miles to Newton Stewart - it would have a drastic effect on the economy."

Also in Galloway , Whithorn sub postmaster, Eddie Richards, 63, said: "The Government took pension payments and other transactions away from post offices and gave them to the bank, doing it on the cheap.

"By doing that they ended up making us non-viable.

"Everybody knows these closures are going to happen. This Government just doesn't listen.

"In October a petition with four million signatures opposing the closure of rural post offices was handed to them - but it hasn't made a blind bit of difference.

"Once we are closed people are going to have to travel a long way to their nearest big post office. Yet this is the same government that is trying to keep cars off the road."

The closures are said to be a way of saving cash.

Only 350 of Scotland 's 1600 post offices are profitable.

Post Office sources have claimed closures will not be as devastating as half of the network - but thousands of closures nationwide are likely.

And last night, a spokeswoman for the Royal Mail in Scotland said closures depended on the government.

She said: "The future size of the network depends entirely on Government funding.

"We cannot comment on that until we see how much the funding we get from the Government and they have not told us that yet."

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