17/3/2008

Local News in Aldershot

Post office forced to close by new blow

The future of an Aldershot post office looks even more insecure after it was confirmed that no replacement has been found for its interim postmaster.

Post Office Ltd, which is losing close to £4million a week, has failed to find a successor to Ahmed Zahir, who left his position at the Ash Road branch on February 26.

The departure has forced the temporary closure of the outlet.

Campaigners fear the company’s inability to install a replacement will mean that the branch is doomed, despite a public consultation on its future, which ended on March 10, and a petition that attracted nearly 300 signatures.

The post office in Ash Road, and outlets in Boxall’s Lane, Aldershot, and Broomhill Road, Farnborough, were earmarked for closure in January.

Cllr Keith Dibble, who represents Ash Road on Rushmoor Borough Council, branded the consultation a sham.

“It’s been closed for two weeks and they’ve allowed it to drift,” he said.

“They have not tended to the patient and have allowed it to die.

“What was the point in having a public consultation on whether it will close if they appear to have decided that it should go and they’re not prepared to listen to what residents say?

“They’ve stuck the knife in and disregarded what hundreds of people who signed the petition and wrote letters think.”

A decision on whether to close the Ash Road post office permanently will be made in the next few weeks.

Finding an interim postmaster and getting the branch operational could take several weeks, according to James Taylor, a spokesman for Post Office Ltd.

“It’s clear that they’ve left it empty and they will use that as an excuse to close it, despite the public writing letters and signing the petition,” Cllr Dibble, Rushmoor’s Labour group leader, said.

“It is a huge loss for a community that needs services like the post offices provide. It’s massively disappointing to know that the consultation was a sham as they had no plans to get another postmaster in.

“It’s an insult to those who valued the post office and I’m disgusted.”

Mr Taylor denied Post Office Ltd had not made an effort to find somebody to run the branch.

“We would love to find an interim postmaster and get the branch open again,” he said. “No decision on which post offices will close has been made yet, [and will not be] until we have viewed the public’s comments through consultation.”

Meanwhile 1,533 people have put their names to a campaign to keep the other under-threat post office open.

The Boxall’s Lane branch, described as a vital service by a councillor fighting to keep its doors open, is one of around 2,500 nationally facing the axe.

The amount of community support for the outlet has encouraged Cllr George Paparesti, one of those behind the campaign.

“It’s not just people from Aldershot who use it,” the Tory said. “I’ve had comments from Farnham residents who come to it because it’s so convenient.

“There’s a car park and a cashpoint that are popular with customers from a long way away.
“The government are prepared to chuck money at Northern Rock yet they’re not doing so with the post offices.”

More than 900 people signed a petition to keep the Broomhill Road branch afloat, but Cllr Dibble warned that the community would be cynical about the future of the two other under-threat Rushmoor post offices.

“People will think about what has happened at Ash Road and I would have thought they will be less confident about the outcome of the public consultation,” he said.

Decisions to moot the three branches for closure were made based on each branch’s footfall.

Campaigners say surveys carried out to determine the popularity of the branches were not exhaustive enough and failed to capture a full picture of how many people used them.

First printed in: Aldershot News and Mail