Thousands of post offices close set to close

Around 2,500 post offices in the UK are set to close by 2009.

Trade & Industry Secretary Alistair Darling said that the current network was unsustainable, due to new technology and changing lifestyles, and that it was currently losing £4 million per week.

Mr Darling announced that the government would invest £1.7 billion in order to support the network, including an annual subsidy of up to £150 million per year until 2011.

No decisions have been made on individual post offices and there are no local quotas for closures. A series of local consultations will be held in order to determine which post offices will close.

However, there are plans to set up 500 new 'Outreach' outlets for small remote communities - including mobile post offices and services in village halls, community centres and pubs.

Announcing the plans, Mr Darling said: "Post offices play an important social and economic role in the communities they serve and the government is determined to maintain a national post network allowing people to have reasonable access across the whole country.

"As is widely acknowledged, it will mean some closures in a network of 14,000 offices, over eight times the size of Tesco. But piecemeal closures are no good for anyone and won't put the network back on track. The post office must plan a proper national network and innovate. To look more at post offices where people are, be it through mobile offices, village halls, community centres or pubs.

"We are playing our part and will continue to. This balanced package gives the post office network the chance to compete."

The Liberal Democrats accused the government of "sounding the death knell for many communities across the country". The party has put forward a plan for an additional £2 billion investment in the post office, which, they claim, will create a "thriving network".

The party's trade and industry spokesperson Susan Kramer said: "Villages that have already lost their school and shops, elderly residents in the suburbs who risk losing their independence and the poorest in our inner cities all now face a bleak future.

"The collapse in morale across the whole network will lead to many more closures than the thousands announced today.

"The government sees only a business in inevitable decline. Its plan is designed purely to save money and has nothing to do with meeting the long-term needs of people who rely on post offices for essential services."

(KMcA/JM)