Post Office Consultation Response

Blogging has been a little light recently as I have been moving house, but the deadline for the consultation on Labour's post office closure program hitting Cambridge is tomorrow, so I have submitted the following response:

Network Change Programme: Area Plan Proposal Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and South Lincolnshire

Response to Consultation

This is a response from Councillor Chris Howell, a member of Cambridge City Council representing Coleridge ward to the Area Plan Proposal Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and South Lincolnshire.

I am writing to object to the planned closure of 3 Post Offices in the Cambridge City Area, and specifically to oppose the proposed closure to St Johns Post Office on Hills Road in Coleridge Ward. There should be no reason why the current network in Cambridge City should not be viable as it is, and indeed it urgently needs to be expanded to address areas currently lacking in provision such as Barnwell in Abbey Ward, and in the South of the City such as Addenbrokes, where St Johns is actually already the most convenient alternative.

Factors Relevant to all Post Offices in Cambridge Under Threat

Population Growth Generally
Cambridgeshire’s population has grown by 26% since 1981 (per Cambridgeshire County Council Research Group population estimates 1981-2006) and the County is forecast to be among the fastest growing in the country over the next fifteen years (per Office for National Statistics 2004-based population projections). There is significant government pressure to build homes in the County, and much of the planned growth will be in the Southern Cambridgeshire sub-region – locally produced estimates indicate the population in the City could increase by over 30% over the next 15-20 years.

Growth in student numbers
Both Cambridge University and Anglia Ruskin University have expanded student numbers greatly over recent years (e.g. Cambridge University total undergraduates and post graduates increased from 12,118 to 17,845 from 1981-2007 - http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2007-08/special/09/studentnumbers0607.pdf), and this trend is expected to continue. All three post offices threatened with closure are in areas with significant student populations.

New business opportunities
There are many areas that post offices could expand into, notably the increased provision of government services (e.g. a ‘Government GP’ service as proposed by the Conservatives), and there is huge political goodwill from all parties to make this type of arrangement work.

Pressure on the Central Post Office
The Central Post Office in Cambridge is already busy at peak periods, and will not be able to support additional visits from nearby Post Offices closing – in another area I am aware of shutting the local sub post office to the main office resulted in unacceptable levels of queuing.

St John’s Post Office, Hills Road,
St John’s Post Office is centred on an area of extraordinary population growth. Over 2,000 new homes are either recently completed, under construction or have detailed approved planning permission, including major sites within 100 yards of the post office. The precise sites are detailed in the formal response from Cambridge City Council. This will clearly increase visits to the Post Office far in excess of the current levels. There is also a major redevelopment planned for the nearby station area.

Lack of Post Office Coverage in South Cambridge
Following the earlier closure of the Wulfstan Way Post Office, vast areas of the South of Cambridge, including Addenbrokes Hospital are now a long way from a post office – for many people in Queen Edith’s ward in particular, St Johns is currently their local post office, and its closure will require them to travel further. The journey to the alternative on Hills Road or the Central Post Office requires a journey down a busy and frequently congested main road.

Lack of suitable alternatives
The most obvious alternative, Cherry Hinton Road has restricted opening times, including shutting over the key lunchtime period. If St Johns is shut, the Post Office must ensure that Cherry Hinton Road branch is open for longer including lunch times.

Finally, consultation arrangements have been unfortunate to say the least for the student population – all three earmarked for closure are in areas heavily populated with students, either from the central colleges, or in the case of St Johns from neighbouring Homerton College. As it stands, students will have left Cambridge for the summer prior to the closures being announced, and will return after the closure of the consultation. If there is any sense in which the consultation is a meaningful exercise, the deadline for responses must be extended into the Autumn to allow representations from students and student organisations.

St Johns Post Office Axed

The axe has fallen on St John's Hills Road, as the Post Office has announced that it will definitely be closing. The branch is likely to close in about 4 weeks time, and there appears to be no further opportunity to appeal against this appallingly short-sighted decision. Only one of the 23 threatened post offices in Cambridgeshire was saved (at Great Gransden), and as predicted this was replaced by an additional closure at Thriplow. The Government has forced the Post Office to shut 2,500 post offices around the Country, resulting in today's blow.

I cannot quite believe that the Post Office has ignored the evidence presented to it. This post office is in an area of huge growth, in a City that is growing rapidly as a whole. It will leave large parts of South Cambridge even further from their nearest post office, and the local Post Office on Cherry Hinton Road isn't even open at lunch times. This is another kick in the teeth to Coleridge residents from the Government, after the £1.3m 'Cambridge Tax' that will be added to local Council Tax bills to pay for the botched concessionary bus fares scheme - Gordon Brown's policies really are delivering one blow after another for Cambridge residents.

There are also going to be some pretty annoyed students who left for the holidays unaware of the threat, and who will return to find their local post offices about to shut up shop.

The Post Office's full decision is available here. They commented on St Johns:

The main concerns expressed by respondents during the local public consultation regarding our proposal to close this branch related to the potential impact on the local community of the proposed closure, as respondents said that the branch serves a large residential area and several schools and colleges. Respondents also expressed concern for elderly customers, who it was said would face a long walk to the alternative branches or would have to pay for transport to travel to those branches.

Respondents also stated that there are a number of planned developments in the area, including residential housing and student accommodation. A petition was also submitted during the local public consultation, opposing the proposed closure. Post Office Limited has considered all responses received during the public consultation period and a review of this proposal has been undertaken.

There are four branches within one mile of Post Office® St Johns branch - the nearest alternative branch, Post Office® Cherry Hinton Road branch is just over half a mile away. Although there is no direct bus service between Post Office® Cherry Hinton Road branch and Post Office® St Johns branch, parking is available near that branch.

The second nearest alternative branch, Post Office® Hills Road branch, is located within a convenience store, has level access to assist customers and there is a regular bus service that runs between the this branch and Post Office® St Johns branch. Most buses have disabled access and there is free off-peak local bus travel for people over 60 or disabled passengers. There is also metered parking available opposite Post Office® Hills Road branch.

Post Office Limited has reviewed the capacity of both of the two nearest alternative branches to absorb the expected increase in customer numbers from the proposed closure of Post Office® St Johns branch and from planned developments and is satisfied that good service levels can be maintained.

Taking these and all other relevant factors into consideration, including the needs of our more vulnerable customers, Post Office Limited has decided to proceed with the proposed closure of Post Office® St Johns branch.

Andrew Lansley MP joins Post Office fight

Local MP Andrew Lansley visited Coleridge this week to help the campaign to save St Johns Post Office, which is threatened by Labour's latest Post Office closure program.

I joined Andrew to discuss with the sub postmaster the branch usage and how local residents might be affected, including:

• The lack of post office facilities for the hundreds of new homes being built near to this Post Office.
• The lack of post office facilities for many people in the South of the City, including staff at Addenbrokes.
• The students living in the area, and the consultation deadline closing prior to their return.
• The limited opening hours of the nearest alternative post office.
• The range of services that the post office allows each branch to offer.

Andrew will be feeding back his own comments to the Post Office.

Many thanks to Andrew for visiting Coleridge and joining the fight to save St Johns post office - some customers were slightly surprised to discover that St John's Post Office whilst in Coleridge ward is also currently in Andrew's South Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency, along with other parts of the ward south of Cherry Hinton Road!

Post Office thoughts

There was a briefing for Councillors last night from the Post Office, Postwatch and the County Council about closures planned for the City. A few things emerged.

Not for the first time, it was suggested that work behind the scenes by the County Council and Postwatch prior to the closures may have resulted in fewer closures being announced - worst case scenarios were losing up to 40 Post Offices in the County, compared to the 23 announced. Not much consolation to Coleridge with one of its post offices on the list though...


The timing of the consultation is, to say the least, unfortunate. All three in Cambridge marked for closure are in areas with large student populations - and these students will have left Cambridge for the Summer before closures were announced, and will return after the consultation closes - the closing date for the consultation must be changed to allow their views to be heard.

There are areas of the City that desperately need new Post Offices rather than closures, such as the Barnwell area of Abbey, and Queen Ediths ward to the South (which will be affected by the St Johns closure). I know Andrew Lansley MP is talking to the post office to try getting a new branch at Addenbrokes.

Finally, I think the new development planned for the area around the St John's post office, coupled with the lack of alternatives in Queen Ediths ward are strong grounds for retaining this post office - there are hundreds of new homes built or with planning permission on the Tim Brinton site, The Cambridge Water site, Shaftesbury Road, and I hope this argument can be made strongly to the Post Office.

Former Post Office could become take-away

Last week the following planning application was submitted:

09/0059/FUL, 164 Hills Road, Conversion from confectionary to hot food takeaway (A5).

Which I think is the old St John's Post Office, that was the vicitim of Labour's post office closure program. Another step towards this area of town looking like an anonymous part of London surburbia...

Closed Post Office to Become Takeaway

Wednesday's planning committee meeting approved the "Conversion from confectionary to hot food takeaway" of 164 Hills Road, the former St John's Post Office, in spite of an officer recommendation to refuse permission.

It is a real shame that the Post Office had to go because of Labour's Post Office closure programme. Clearly the character of this area is changing and we shall need to keep an eye on developments. Do let us know what you think.

Post Office Closure Public Meeting

The City Council hosted a public meeting last night on how Labour's Post Office closure plan will affect Cambridge. The panel consisted of two Post Office representatives, a representative of the independent watchdog Postwatch and four local politicians.

Unfortunately, since the Lib Dems forced the council to change the date of the meeting to allow their own MP to attend, instead neither Chris Howell nor South Cambridgeshire Conservative MP Andrew Lansley were able to be present. However, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Richard Normington (left in photo) was on the panel to put the case for loosening Labour's constraints on Post Offices, allowing them to become commercially viable and therefore survive as the key community resource that they are.

In a refreshing outbreak of agreement between politicians, all agreed that Post Offices are vital for some sections of the community as well being valuable to virtually everyone. However, Labour's parliamentary hopeful was looking a little isolated as he tried to defend his party's indefensible plan.

An important message that came out of the discussions was that while we should all put the case to defend the specific post offices that are under threat, such as St John's on Hills Road, we must also tell the government what we think about their rigid target to lose 2500 Post Offices, in the hope that they will change their minds. Considering how many U-turns Gordon Brown has performed in the last year and that 20 of his own MPs rebelled over Post Offices, we shouldn't give up on trying to replace the plan at the top level. While your local Labour representatives haven't opposed the plans in public yet, we hope that they are putting pressure on their Westminster colleagues in private.

The most productive element of the meeting was discussion of ideas for how to make Post Offices more commercially viable. This is the cornerstone of the Conservative Post Office Action Plan:

The key parts of our plan are:

• Freeing up Sub-Postmasters
• Using Post Offices as Government GP service
• Campaigning on the Post Office Card Account
• Encouraging 'Council Counters'
  

The importance of freeing up Sub-Postmasters was emphasised when a Sub-Postmaster for elsewhere in the county mentioned that she had been asking to be allowed to offer popular extra services at her branch but was not allowed to do so.

The great tragedy about the closure plan is that so much of it could be avoided. The fact that profitable branches could close under the scheme illustrates how ill-thought out it is, while the fact that branches can only be saved at the expense of others shows how uncaring it is.

The deadline for responses to the formal consultation is 26th August 2008. Responses must be sent by e-mail to consultation@postoffice.co.uk or by post to:

National Consultation Team
Post Office Ltd
FREEPOST CONSULTATION TEAM

It is recommended that responses are copied to Postwatch at info@postwatch.co.uk or "FREEPOST POSTWATCH".

According to Post Office Limited, responses must refer to errors and omissions from the Branch Access Reports drawn up for Post Offices targeted for closure. See pages 49, 55, 61 for Cambridge branches. Further guidance is available from the City Council.

Hurrah for the County Council part 2

The new footbridge across the Cam at Riverside is due to open to the public from midday on Thursday, 5 June.



The landmark £3 million bridge for cyclists and pedestrians will be the first new river crossing in Cambridge since the Elizabeth Way Bridge was opened in 1971, and will provide a much-needed cycling and walking link into and out of the City Centre. The bridge design was the winner in a competition voted for by the public and a panel of experts.

The spectacular new bridge spans the River Cam and provides a link from St Andrew's Road in Chesterton across to Riverside. It includes features such as a low level walkway, a separate cycleway, and seating areas for people to relax and enjoy views of the river. The bridge is made up of a 70-tonne arched steel frame, with approach ramps either side.

Cambridgeshire County Councillor Matt Bradney, Cabinet Member for Growth and Infrastructure, said: "The new bridge will bring major long term benefits for pedestrians and cyclists in the area and will help to build fantastic links between the communities in the East Chesterton and Abbey areas of Cambridge. As well as this, the striking modern design of the bridge gets the right balance of respecting the existing surroundings whilst providing a high quality, innovative and attractive structure."

The bridge is to be opened on Thursday by John Grimshaw, Chief Executive of the sustainable transport charity Sustrans, who says, "This bridge is a fantastic addition to the National Cycle Network in Cambridge and its high quality design will provide a fast, seamless and attractive route for cyclists and pedestrians alike. I'm delighted to play a part in the opening of the bridge and I look forward to seeing people use it for the first time. "

Delivery of the new bridge was managed from inception to completion by Cambridgeshire County Council. It was designed and engineered by a multi-disciplinary team from architects Ramboll Whitbybird, with the seating areas designed by the artist Gerry Judah. Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering built the bridge, and the supervising consultants were Atkins.


Works to build the bridge have been underway since April of 2007 and it was funded by Central Government's Growth Area Fund and by developers working in the area.