Anger aired over PO closures

3:16pm Wednesday 7th May 2008

CONFIRMATION that the post office in Crowmarsh is to be closed has been greeted with anger and dismay by campaigners.

It was the post office which put up the biggest fight in The Herald area, and was backed by south Oxfordshire MP Boris Johnson who held a rally outside the premises in The Street.

The death knell sounded for Crowmarsh PO and the other 21 sub-post offices county-wide on Post Office Ltd's hit-list on Tuesday when a full list of closures was officially announced.

Despite tireless community campaigning, Post Office Ltd offered no concessions to Oxfordshire and will press ahead with closing all the branches first unveiled as being under threat in February.

The first wave of closures is expected to hit the county as early as June 3, after branches were given four weeks' notice to wind down their operations. Most of the 22 are expected to close by the end of the summer.

Crowmarsh Parish Council chairman John Griffin said: "We are very disappointed but not really surprised. There is a lot of cynicism about so-called public consultation but we retained a spark of hope because the Crowmarsh post office is a thriving concern. It would also have been needed even more because of the amount of development scheduled for this area.

"We were always up against it because we have Wallingford just a short way away but as yet we have no date for when a permanent post office will open there.

"The temporary post office looks set to stay for a while yet.

"We fought a good fight, backed by local councillors, by Wallingford people, our local school and businesses. It is all very disappointing.

"But we will all continue to support postmaster John Ham and his shop even with the post office gone."

The final date for closure of the post office is yet to be confirmed as it is with Long Wittenham, Dalton Barracks, near Abingdon, and Wootton Road, Abingdon. Childrey will close on June 11, Upton on June 5 and Fyfield within three months. Arguments put forward by local MPs, the army in the case of Dalton Barracks and local communities all came to nothing - not one threatened post office in The Herald area was reprieved.

South Oxfordshire District Council leader Ann Ducker said she was disappointed that the post office at Crowmarsh was to close.

She said: "I am disappointed by these closure decisions.

"Residents in Crowmarsh are being asked to use the post office in Wallingford which is still housed in a temporary building and there is no certainty over when and where a permanent replacement will go.

"At the very least I would have expected the decision to be deferred until the future of Wallingford post office was more certain.

"I will be raising my concerns with our MP Boris Johnson and asking him to take the matter up in the House of Commons."

Wallingford mayor Betty Atkins who supported Crowmarsh post office said she too was disappointed at the decision to close it.

Shirley Goodchild of Postwatch, the consumer watchdog, said: "Postwatch scrutinised each of Post Office Ltd's proposals, encouraged customers to engage in the consultation process and worked to ensure Post Office Ltd took into account responses submitted.

"Post Office Ltd has also agreed to undertake a number of improvements to other post offices where required to enable them to handle additional business."

Dr Evan Harris, the MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, said: "It is typical these closures should be announced after the local elections to prevent people being able to protest at the ballot box against the refusal of the Government to invest in these important public services."