Consultation on Local Post Offices
in the Scottish Borders

A submission to the DTI consultation
on the post office network

Christine Grahame MSP
The Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh
EH99 1SP

28th February 2007
 
Introduction

Alisdair Darling MP and the DTI announced a review of the post office network and indicated that a large number of post offices would be closed as a result.

Christine Grahame MSP received many submissions from residents in the Scottish Borders very concerned about the impact closures would have on their communities.

This consultation was carried out across over 40,000 residents within the Scottish Borders during January – February 2007.  Over 13,000 responses had been received by the end of February 2007 with many still arriving.  A response rate of 35% which shows the strength of feeling and the importance of post offices to the Scottish Borders communities.  This report contains an analysis of the first 12,000 responses so that it can be submitted to the DTI consultation which closes on 8th March. 

All respondents who indicated they wish to be kept informed will receive an abbreviate form of this submission.

Conclusions

The 35% response rate is unprecedented and indicates the importance of local post offices to the Scottish Borders communities.  Overall these is a feeling that the Borders way of life is under attack and not understood by politicians based in Westminster.

98% of respondents felt that their local post office is an essential part of the community.  This is illustrated in a selection of extracts from respondents which frequently described the local post office as a ‘lifeline’.   In many areas the post office is the only place residents can withdraw cash to purchase goods and services locally.  In the smaller towns and villages the local post office is also linked to the survival of local shops and small businesses.

84% of respondents indicated that they would have difficulty accessing post office facilities if their local post office closed.  The Scottish Borders does not have the city advantage of frequent and reliable public transport.  Bus stops are exposed and are unsuitable for the elderly and infirm to wait at for long periods.  The over 60’s may have free bus passes but often the bus services do not exist or are infrequent.  The disabled and parents with small children often find that ‘low floor’ buses do not exist or are not predictable which preclude them from relying on public transport to the next town.  Bus travel is also more expensive in the Borders compared with Edinburgh.

93% of respondents consider that the Scottish Parliament should try to provide financial and other help to keep the local post office open.  This report is being sent to the DTI in recognition that the post office network is not a devolved matter and therefore currently falls outside the remit of the Scottish Parliament.  However – the future of local post offices has a major impact on the well being of communities,  which is a concern of the Scottish Parliament – the report is therefore being sent to Scottish Government ministers to examine the support which can be given to assist the local post offices survive.

Key Points

Social inclusion – The most disadvantaged in communities are at risk from the withdrawal of local post offices.  Those who do not have bank accounts have only the post office as a source of cash, to pay bills, to access benefits and advice.  The demise of the local post office often is the nail in the coffin of the local general shop (the shop’s survival is often tied to the post office financially) and means those dependent on public transport (where it exists) have very restricted access to the basics of life.

Borders businesses - A number of Borders’ businesses responded that they would have difficulty surviving if the local post office were to close.  For example - the only public house in Stow would not be able to bank takings and carry out business without difficulty – the manager has indicated that in a marginal business this could lead to closure.  Many Borders’ small businesses transact by post and employ a small number of local people.  The Internet has allowed some to sell to people all over the world – but only with the facility of a local post office to take packages and advise on postage and packaging.  In short the closure of a local post office can lead to business closure or relocation, unemployment and lower wages in the Borders which already have the lowest wages in the UK.

Survival of communities - A report commissioned by the Scottish Parliament concluded that the survival of other shops and services in small towns and villages depended on the existence of a local post office.  A study of Innerleithen found that after visiting the post office residents would then visit local shops, café, hairdressers etc.  If they were forced to go to a nearby town to use PO facilities and access cash then their expenditure would transfer to those towns to the detriment of the local community.  This is born out by the remarks from local shopkeepers and post master/mistresses in this consultation.

Individual well being - This is difficult to quantify but easy to understand.  Post offices are often the hub of local communities where people meet and exchange information/greetings.  Local post office staff understand the characters and needs of the residents and notice when an unusual transaction takes place or a resident is missing.  The requirement to visit the local post office is often the motivation to cause elderly or disabled to leave their house and therefore engage with the rest of their community.  Local post offices are sometimes used as a drop off point for other services – e.g. prescription collection.

Information - The local post office serves as a community information post.  They are used as unofficial tourist information bureau and travel directions. They are the source of official information and often unofficial advice centres.  They are of course the repository of local gossip and news about other residents which is so important for all communities.

Global warming  - Many of the respondents to the consultation asked how the traffic increase through the closure of local post offices equates with government policy on global warming.  Closing local post offices will increase car traffic.  As shown in other key points – small towns and villages risk becoming dormitory towns/villages with residents forced to drive to access shopping and other facilities.

Postal services - It is a misconception that local post offices in the Scottish Borders are about postal services.  This may be the main ‘job title’ but is a small part of their contribution to the community they serve.  However it cannot be understated that – especially with the changed postal rates – the need for advice on postage costs, packaging requirements etc is greatly increased.  The growth of the internet and postal shopping also requires ready access to a local post office.

Alternatives - Discussions in the media have considered many ideas being floated including travelling post offices stopping for a couple of hours in a village/town.   Consideration of these clearly demonstrates that they do not meet the many real requirements of the residents of the Scottish Borders.  People cannot always be available to meet the fixed schedule of a travelling van.  The services will be limited through the obvious constraints imposed.  Other businesses and shops are often dependent on the existence of a fixed premise local post office.  Communities cannot meet in the welcoming warmth of a local post office where their needs are known.  The local post office is an essential component of Borders way of life and must be protected and assisted to survive – too many have closed already.

Analysis of Returns

Complied as at 26/2/07

40,000 consultations issued

12,037 returns recorded at the date of the report, approx.
1,500 outstanding to be analysed and recorded.

Yes - No - Undecided
Do you consider your local post office to be an essential service to your community?
Yes 98.3% No 0.8% Undecided 0.8%

Would you have difficulty accessing post office facilities if your local Post Office closed?
Yes 84.2% No 2.0% Undecided 13.8%

Do you think the Scottish Parliament should try to provide financial and other help to keep your local post office open?
Yes 93.1% No 2.3% Undecided 4.6%


Comments from respondents to the Post Office Consultation

West Linton Post Office is a very welcoming place where I find myself up to 3 or 4 times a week to mail off envelopes and parcels to all corners of the globe.

As an artist I engage in swaps with other artists everywhere and also regularly email out fabric postcards and my precious textile art.
The post office staff are always very helpful and interested in this and I feel safe in entrusting my art to them for mailing.

If this office were to close I, and many others in West Linton would have to make a journey of at least 16 miles (round trip) to Penicuik, which would be the nearest post office to us then.  I suppose I can be counted among the lucky ones as I have a car in which to travel.  However if we all travel like this it would create much more pollution and I thought it was government policy to cut back on this.

Of course there is always the bus but as you must be aware bus services from West Linton can certainly not be described as either regular or efficient.  The journey would take up most of the morning (if you are lucky) and could only be undertaken by those who are fit and healthy as you have to be prepared to stand and wait in the open air.  What of the elderly who have neither car nor their mobility?
F O – West Linton

To make life easier for me (being disabled) the staff in Stow post office usually come out to my car to ask if I need them to do my business to save me getting out.  This couldn’t happen in a large town.
M B – Stow

Just very recently our post office (Melrose) was closed for a short time due to illness.  We can’t begin to express how much we missed it.  Where do we go to get pensions, pay rents, post parcels?  I could list so many things.  Out post office is vital to us – in fact it’s more like a lifeline – more so when you are elderly and not so able to hop on and off buses to Gala – which is what we would have to do.
M S – Melrose

In past experience when the village post office shuts the village shop shuts which would be a great shame for the village as it is the hub of village life.
Z H – Clovenfords

I am a single mum on benefits with two small children and I have to rely on public transport to my local post office.  Post offices are needed.
M P – Selkirk

 
Being disabled I find it hard enough accessing my local post office, I can’t imagine how I would manage if it was taken away.
W D – Selkirk

I have a seven year old boy at school, I have to be back for 4.  I also have a 3 week old girl and not all buses I can get on with her, so it would be a problem as I can’t drive and she feeds every 2 ½ hours.
 A B – Innerleithen

As a local small business owner, access to a LOCAL post office is VITAL.
A L - Selkirk

I am the local school’s administrator and bank both dinner money and nursery extra hours money through the post office (our local bank is 2 miles away, open only 3 days a week excluding lunch times and I don’t drive).  I fetch my father-in-laws pension from the local post office and don’t know what will happen with this.  It is bad enough that I can’t get TV licence anymore and I think the government is doing everything it can to close the PO network generally.
S H – Walkerburn

It is not possible to get a bus and travel to Peebles every time I need the use of a post office.  Perhaps the PM’s salary is too big to collect from a post office but my pension is not.
C R – Innerleithen.

Our business(turnover £1.4 million) would suffer without a post office locally.
J G – Heriot

Rural areas have few enough facilities which makes the local post office a vital life line for many plus it offers employment where there is little opportunity of jobs.
S G – Tweedsmuir

Our local post office has already closed and to get to the nearest one we have to travel 2 miles.  I am disabled and rely on my family to go to the main post office.  There are a lot of elderly people in Tweedbank and I know that they find the loss of the post office very hard.
E L – Tweedbank

Our local sub-post offices have already been closed.  We have to travel 15 miles to the nearest post office.  They are now talking about closing this one.
R W – Tushielaw

If the local post office closes, I fear the only shop that we have in the village will probably have to shut as well which would mean a very big loss to the village.
A N – Oxton

Any move to close post offices in smaller towns and villages simply betrays a lack of thorough analysis on the part of those in authority.  It is in these smaller communities, even more than in the larger towns, that POs are an actual daily necessity and a lifeline to the elderly and immobile who would otherwise be unable to live in such rural areas.
D R – Melrose

 
Due to DSS and disability payments being paid into a post office account, collecting these payments would be an extreme inconvenience – we need our local post office
A W – Earlston

I find this beyond belief – as a pensioner my life is being ‘eroded’.
P C – Redpath

Being a non-driver myself I know it would be difficult for me to get to the next post office.  I am fit and able but some of my neighbours are quite old and have no means of transport either.  It would be horrendous if this facility were to go.
A K – Lauder

As the post office is the last surviving shop in Stow it would mean that I would have to travel 9 ½ miles south to access post office facilities.  It would also mean to get basic conveniences would also require another 10 mile round trip to Lauder to get milk and newspapers.  It would mean the elderly in the community would have great difficulty getting postal and basic amenities.
D I – Watherston

If it is closed I cannot travel in a bus as I cannot walk very far.
E R – Melrose

Village post office has already closed due to resignation of Post 
Mistress.  Where previously it was the heart of the village there is not longer a communal purpose (collecting papers etc).  Parents both elderly – father (90+) no longer has reason to go out – daily for paper and weekly for pension so increasingly isolated where previously a well known face in the village every day.
B G – Etterickbridge

I am a poor student.  I can walk to my local post office.  The next nearest is 6 miles away.  I would either have to catch a bus (£3.90 return). Or drive and have to use extra fuel and thus add to global warming.
S G - Innerleithen