 Breckland Council will continue to lobby to save our Post Offices from closure following the announcement about the proposed closure of thirteen Post Offices in our district and one being substituted for an outreach service. The Post Offices affected are village Post Offices in: Sporle, Tittleshall, Griston, Longham, New Buckenham, North Tuddenham, Beeston, Caston, Clint Green, and East Wretham.The town closures are: Norwich Rd Watton, London St Swaffham, Nunn’s Bridges Thetford, the village which has been proposed for an outreach service is Beachamwell.
With so many rural village Post Office closures there will clearly be a huge impact on residents unable to travel to another Post Office, increasing rural deprivation and isolating communities. Breckland Council has been campaigning against closures since last year the Couincil’s Overview & Scrutiny Commission set up a Member working group to lobby against the closures and instigated a 700+ signature petition.
We also conducted a survey to find out more about Post Office services in Breckland and the loss of a local Post Office would clearly have a detrimental impact on local communities including: 93% of people living in Breckland would be unable to access an alternative post office if their local one closed and 88% of Breckland residents’ quality of life would be affected for the worse. We also found out that in Breckland we seem to be bucking the national trend in terms of customer numbers with 73% of the Post Offices in Breckland experiencing increasing customer numbers in the last 3 years.
Breckland has also recently formally written to Post Office Ltd, the Council believes all losses will be devastating to our communities particularly in rural areas. William Nunn, Leader of Breckland Council commented on today’s news. “Breckland Council is shocked by the announcement of proposed closures in the District which will have a devastating effect on local communities if implemented. Breckland recognises the invaluable service provided by the Post Office network to our local communities which rely heavily on their Post Office branch. The Council also deplores the Government’s current programme of 2,500 closures across the country. Post Office Ltd needs to note the strength of public opinion in favour of saving local Post Offices and must recognise the needs of those most disadvantaged such as the elderly, disabled and those without transport who rely on the local Post Office services the most. We will continue to campaign against these deplorable closures”
”We have also offered on several occasions to work with the Post Office Ltd to find ways together to provide services in the areas affected, unfortunately to date no response has been forthcoming from the PO Ltd”.
Public consultation starts today for only six weeks. Breckland has been very pleased with the public response so far which shows residents are passionate about the local Post Office service and see closures as a huge loss for our community The Council is continuing its lobbying campaign by presenting this evidence to both Post Watch and Post Office Ltd to try and ensure Post Offices in Breckland are kept open .We urge as many residents as possible to voice their concerns during this consultation.
Please sign the online petition here.
| 
