Fears for our POs

Mar 14 2008 by Andrew Baldwin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

WE won’t know until the summer which post offices are earmarked for closure in Huddersfield and its surrounding area.

Today’s claim that 17 post offices in our region could be shut down, as part of a planned nationwide Royal Mail cull, is by any measure an alarming one.

Some may call it scaremongering at this stage before firm details are announced, but what is clear is that there is a fight ahead.

Whatever the eventual number, the latest round of proposed post office closures will spell misery for the thousands of people who rely on their local branches.

Customers – many them older or disabled – will be forced to travel further to use vital services.

The importance of these post offices, particularly the ones in rural areas, cannot be underestimated when it comes to keeping our communities connected.

But over the years, the number of services they have been able to offer have been stripped away by the Government – putting them in a weak position in the face of sweeping closure programmes.

Local communities will no doubt rally round in the defence of post offices put forward for the axe. However, it is clear that if they are to survive in the long term, they must be able to offer more services to get more people through their doors.

Some transactions are no longer possible over the counter, renewal of TV licences being one, while others are increasingly being done over the internet.

We can all help to avert the threat by doing our best to put a bit more business the way of our local post office.

It is time to back words with deeds.

If we don’t, it will just be a matter of time before the post offices are gone for good.