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Post Office Closures East Mersea

 Please note that you must send your letter asking for our Post Office to remain open by 19 November at the latest

Essex Rural Partnership

Post Office Closures: A Briefing

Issued August 2007

Why Post Offices will Close - what this review is all about

The existing Post Office Network of 14,500 branches is unsustainable.  The Network as a whole is loosing almost £4million per week.  Over 80% of the rural network is unprofitable.  More than half of the rural network has fewer than 500 customers each week. 

DTI published ‘The Post Office Network: A Consultation Document' in December 2006, and accepted responses until March 2007.  Essex Rural Partnership submitted comments at this time, stressing the importance of Post Offices in rural areas, and highlighting issues that should be considered when any closures are proposed. 

All consultation responses were considered and the DTI published ‘The Post Office Network: Government Response to Consultation' in May 2007. 

This document confirms that:

• 2,500 Post Offices will be closed in England and Wales by December 2008

(estimated 1,250 in rural areas)

• The closures proposed will be based primarily on financial viability and number of customers
• Post Office Limited will introduce access criteria (further details below)
• New Outreach facilities will be introduced to sustain access to Post Office services in rural areas (further details below)
• All proposed closures will be subject to a local consultation, lasting six weeks, which we are encouraging you to contribute to (further details below)

• The assessment criteria which will be used

The DTI has set ‘access criteria', which will be the main factor in deciding which Post Offices will remain and which will be closed.  For rural areas, the criteria state that the minimum distances each household must be from their nearest Post Office are as follows:

• In rural areas, 95% of the total rural population within 3 miles.
• In remote areas, 95% of the population in postcode districts within 6 miles.

• Outreach services - what they are/how they will be provided

500 new ‘outreach' locations will be established.  These will be new bases for Post Office Services to be delivered from.  There will be 4 types of outreach facility, the 2 most likely to be relevant to Essex are:

• v Hosted: - a full service offered by the subpostmaster (or a fully trained employee) of a nearby post office at a "host" site such as a shop, village hall or church.
• v Partner: - a basic service with access to cash, bill payments, stamps, weighing and leaving parcels being provided by another retailer alongside their main business, such as a petrol station or pub, overseen by the core subpostmaster who would provide the site with the products required.

The frequency of these services will be dependent on individual situations, but Outreach services are likely to operate on a part-time basis. 

What the Essex Rural Partnership Working Group is Doing :

This briefing has been prepared for Parish Councils, and will be available for anybody to download from the Essex Rural Partnership website, http://www.essexruralpartnership.org.uk/   

A poster has been produced to help to raise awareness of the issue.  The poster will also be available on the website for you to download and print further copies if you require them. 

Up to date information will be added to http://www.essexruralpartnership.org.uk/ as it becomes available. 

What is Happening?

Post Office Limited will launch a 9-10 week pre-consultation.  This will not be publicised, but will allow Postwatch (the Postal Services Watchdog) to scrutinise proposals, and individual subpostmasters to be informed of the plans.  Once the plans have been agreed MP's will receive a copy for comment.  Immediately following the Pre-Consultation there will be a six week Public Consultation. 

• What You (the Parish Council, Small Business, Community Group or Individual) can do to influence the process.

Post Office Limited will launch its public consultations, over a staggered timeframe.  The consultations will be based on ‘areas' (each area will be based on boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies; the areas have not yet been published).  Each consultation will last for six weeks. 

The consultation will be publicised at the relevant Post Offices within the area.  Various organisations will be consulted formally - this should include all Parish Councils in the area. 

We enclose posters which we are asking you to display in your parish, to alert rural communities to the forthcoming consultations.

**********   Consultations in Essex are expected to commence in early October   **********

We ask that you circulate a copy of this briefing to all members of your Council. 

We also confirm that, if you wish, copies may be displayed on your notice boards and/or websites. 

Details of when consultation in your ‘area' will take place ought to be publicised in your local Post Office - it is likely that there will not be any pre-warning, and that any publicity will be issued only once the consultation period is underway.  It is imperative, therefore, that as many people, organisations and businesses as possible are aware of the plans of Post Office Limited, so that they can be ready to respond at what might be very short notice.  Essex Rural Partnership will advertise dates on its website, as soon as they are known.  Additionally Essex Rural Partnership will endeavour to notify Parish Councils of the dates, when known, and will send out a 2^nd version of the enclosed posters which will advertise the closing date of the local consultation in your area. 

What to do next

Keep a watch for when your consultation period commences, through the following channels: 

• In your local Post Office
• Via your Parish Council
• By checking websites of Post Office Limited, Postwatch and Essex Rural Partnership

What to Expect

The number of Post Offices to be closed has been set at a fixed level (2,500).  Therefore we do not expect the consultations to result in a fall in the number of closures.  There is, however, an opportunity for the public to influence the location of the closures, to ensure that the most appropriate Post Offices are affected by this closure programme. 

Please make sure that you contribute your views, it could affect the future of your local Post Office. 

Key contacts for help.

This information has been issued on behalf of the Essex Rural Partnership, which is managed by Rural Community Council of Essex.  For queries, please call 0844 477 3938.