The Wardman Wire

Yesterday the closure of 75 Post Offices was announced in my region - the East Midlands. The list is at the end of the article. In my region there may be implications for the rise of Independent Mayors and Councillors - this may interest the Our Kingdom people.

There’s a lot to be said about these closures. First a few reflections on the proposals:

• 2500-3000 Post Offices are closing in order to save £150m per year.
• The decision has been dictated by Ministers, driven by the “need” to save money. The programme was started when Gordon Brown was Chancellor of the Exchequer . His fingerprints are all over it.
• Closure is being implemented on an “equal misery” basis. This morning my village Sub Postmaster told me that he is safe, unless the decision to close another local Post Office is reversed - in which case his head goes back on the block. So much for “We also intend the local post office to become an invaluable resource for access to government information.” (Labour Manifesto, 2001 - page 13).
• Post Offices have less business largely because the Labour Government has made a series of decisions to remove business from them. Simultaneously proposals to use Post Offices as local information hubs were rejected (I’ll write about that in a further article).
• The whole programme “must” be implemented in 18-24 months - not enough time for Post Offices to build other revenue streams in order to survive. In the private sector, such a cavalier approach with an existing customer base and assets would be called one thing: stupid.
• Closures are therefore inevitable.
• Labour came to power on claims of “listening”. In this case there has been a petition with 4 million signatures, which has been ignored.

The Promises that Labour made about Post Offices

I’ve just been through the Labour Party Manifestos for 1997, 2001 and 2005. In the first two there were “promises” made about “recognising the special needs of people who live and work in rural areas” and claims that “the Conservatives will put rural post offices under threat “.

By the time we get to 2005, the promises about “recognising needs” have been replaced by:

“Labour has put in £750 million to support rural post offices”.

That is the habit of this Government; they do not claim to have achieved things - they try to claim that “spending” or “investing” money is a mark of success. This is not so, and eventually the country will stop falling for it.

But no wonder they’ve stopped talking about recognising the needs of rural populations:

• The Labour Government has closed more than 4,000 Post Offices since 1999.
• They are now causing the closure of up to 3,000 more.
• That is a third of the network in less than a decade.

Cynical Laughs Understandable

Let’s just remind ourselves of that statement from the 1997 Labour Manifesto:

Labour recognises the special needs of people who live and work in rural areas. The Conservatives do not. Public services and transport services in rural areas must not be allowed to deteriorate. The Conservatives have tried to privatise the Post Office. We opposed that, in favour of a public Post Office providing a comprehensive service. Conservative plans would mean higher charges for letters and put rural post offices under threat.

Hollow, cynical, tired laughs are more than understandable at this point.

The Implications for any General Election

I’ll be following up this article with several more, as I think that there may be interesting implications for any election to be called by Gordon Brown. Let me give two examples.

Independent Progress in Mansfield

In Mansfield, which is now into its second Independent Council administration (and Labour lost another 3 seats in May), around half a dozen Post Offices are slated for closure. I would not like to be Alan Meale MP - defeated in the last election for Mayor of Mansfield - if Mr Gordon Brown calls an Election.

Lib Dem challenge to unpopular Hoon in Ashfield (?)

The situation must be even worse for Geoff Hoon, the Labour MP in next door Ashfield. Here a couple of Post Offices are due to be closed, but in Ashfield Labour lost half of their seats and control of the Council in May when the LibDems went from 1 to 9 seats, and even the Conservatives took 3 council seats. And that is leaving aside the 12 Independents who held their position.

Further, Mr Hoon is not a popular local MP:

• He has reduced his majority by 60% since 1997.
• He is heavily identified with Tony Blair.
• He still has the debacle of missing body armour resulting in at least one unnecessary death of a British soldier in Iraq to live down.
• And he commutes in from Trent Valley Horse Country 25 miles away to represent his ex-mining constituents.

House built on sand, anyone?

Full List of East Midlands Post Offices slated for Closure

First a note that one of the Mansfield Post Offices due for the captive bullet is listed under “East Yorkshire, Bassetlaw and North Lincolnshire”:

• Warsop Vale Carter Lane Warsop Vale Mansfield NG20 8XE

And here are the 88 Post Offices in the East Midlands due for closure or replacement by “Outreach Solutions”:

• Abbey Street, 17 Abbey Street, Derby DE22 3SJ
• Annesley Road, 101 Annesley Road, Hucknall, Nottingham NG15 7DR
• Ashbourne Road, 130 Ashbourne Road, Derby DE22 3AG
• Bonsall Hollies Farm, Uppertown, Bonsall Matlock DE4 2AW
• Bramcote Hills, 40A Sevenoaks, Crescent, Beeston NG9 3FW
• Breadsall, 2 Rectory Lane, Breadsall DE21 5LL
• Brook Street, 20a Brook Street, Grantham NG31 6PS
• Bunny, Jet Garage, Brobot Petroleum Ltd, Loughborough Road, Bunny NG11 6QT
• Carlton Valley , 56 Valley Road, Carlton, Nottingham NG4 1LT
• Carnarvon Grove, 240 Huthwaite Road, Sutton-In-Ashfield NG17 2HF
• Carr Vale,32 Main Street, Bolsover, Chesterfield S44 6JF
• Carrington, 355 Mansfield Road, Carrington Nottingham NG5 2DA
• Church Gresley, 35 Market Street, Church Gresley, Swadlincote DE11 9PR
• Cobden Street, 34 Cobden Street, Long Eaton, Nottingham NG10 1BP
• Colston Bassett, Church Gate, Colston Bassett, Nottingham NG12 3FE
• Edensor, The Post Office, Edensor, Bakewell DE45 1PH
• Egginton, The School House, Church Road, Egginton, Derby DE65 6HP
• Elmfield, 234 Elmton Road, Creswell, Worksop S80 4DZ
• Epperstone, Main Street, Epperstone, Nottingham, NG14 6AD
• Forest Side, 261 Mansfield Road, Sutton-In-Ashfield NG17 4HG
• Gedling, 98 Main Road, Gedling,Nottingham NG4 3HE
• Great Hale, 4 High Street, Great Hale, Sleaford NG34 9LE
• Heage, The Windmill Inn, 213-215 Park Road, Heage, Derby DE56 2AB
• Heage Road, 133 Heage Road, Ripley, Derby DE5 3GG
• Higham, Crown Inn, Main Road, Higham DE55 6EH
• Hill Avenue, 26 Hill Avenue, Grantham NG31 9BD
• Hill Top, 231 Nottingham Road, Eastwood, Nottingham NG16 3GS
• Hillstown, 30 Nesbit Street, Bolsover, Chesterfield S44 6LW
• Hodthorpe, 137 Queens Road, Hodthorpe, Worksop S80 4UP
• Kirk Ireton, Barley Mow, Kirk Ireton , Ashbourne DE6 3JP
• Langwith Junction, 8 East Veiw, Langwith Junction, Mansfield NG20 9AA
• Laxton Main Street, Laxton, Newark NG22 0NX
• Leabrooks, 69 Main Road, Leabrooks, Alfreton DE55 1LA
• Mansfield Road, 102 Mansfield Road, Alfreton DE55 7JP
• Mansfield Road, 164 Mansfield Road, Derby DE1 3RA
• Mansfield Road, 88 Mansfield Road, Heanor DE75 7AQ
• Market Place, 16 Market Place, Ashbourne DE6 1ES
• Marston Montgomery, 2 Thurvaston Road, Ashbourne DE6 2FF
• Matlock Bank, 83 Smedley, Street East, Matlock DE4 3FQ
• Melton Road, 95a Melton Road, West Bridgford, Nottingham NG2 6EN
• Model Village, 5 Colonade, Shirebrook, Mansfield, NG20 8BL
• Moorhall, 12 Moorhall, Bakewell DE45 1FT
• New Lenton, 17 Lenton Boulevard, Nottingham NG7 2ET
• Newgate Lane, 114 Newgate Lane, Mansfield NG18 2QB
• Newlands, 85 Clipstone Road East, Forest Town, Mansfield NG19 0HT
• Newton Solney, 16 Main Street, Newton Solney, Burton-On-Trent DE15 0SJ
• Normanton-On-Soar, 73 Main Street, Normanton-On-Soar LE12 5HB
• Nottingham Road, 111 Nottingham Road, Alfreton, Derby DE55 7GR
• Nottingham Road, 114 Nottingham Road, Long Eaton, Nottingham NG10 2BZ
• Nottingham Road, 123 Nottingham Road, Mansfield NG18 4AJ
• Nuthall, 1 Kimberley Road, Nuthall, Nottingham NG16 1DA
• Old Somerby, The Old School, Old Somerby, Grantham NG33 4AB
• Ollerton, Saville House, Station Road, Ollerton, Newark NG22 9BN
• Openwoodgate, 4 Kilburn Lane, Openwoodgate, Belper DE56 0SF
• Pear Tree, 157-159 St Thomas, Road, Pear Tree, Derby DE23 8RH
• Red Hill, 69 Red Hill Road, Arnold, Nottingham NG5 8GX
• Roper Avenue, 113 Roper Avenue, Heanor DE75 7DA
• Ryhall Road, 60 Ryhall Road, Stamford PE9 1UF
• Rylands, 44 Meadow Road, Beeston NG9 1JT
• Shelton Lock, 211 Derby Road, Chellaston, Derby DE73 5SE
• Shuttlewood, 72 Chesterfield Road, Shuttlewood, Chesterfield S44 6QT
• Sneinton Dale, 197 Sneinton Dale, Nottingham NG2 4HU
• South Wingfield, 11 Inns Lane, South Wingfield, Alfreton DE55 7LW
• Stanfree, 12 Clowne Road, Chesterfield S44 6AW
• Stanton By Dale, School House, Stanton By Dale, Ilkeston DE7 4QJ
• Starkholmes, 133 Starkholmes, Road Matlock E4 5JA
• Stirling Road, 6 Stirling Road Stamford, PE9 2XG
• The Harlequin, 50 Grantham Road, Radcliffe On Trent, Nottingham NG12 2HS
• Uffington, Croft Farm, Uffington, Stamford PE9 4SX
• Warsop Road, 7 Warsop Road, Mansfield Woodhouse, Mansfield NG19 9LE
• Western Valley, 304-306 Valley Road, Nottingham NG5 1HW
• Westhouses, 1 Alfreton Road, Westhouses, Alfreton DE55 5AH
• Westville, The Wyvern Centre, Watnall Road, Nottingham NG15 7LD
• Wilmorton, 707 London Road, Derby DE24 8UQ
• Wolds Drive, 77 Wolds Drive, Keyworth, Nottingham NG12 5FS
• Wollaton Avenue, 4 Wollaton Avenue, Gedling NG4 4HX
• Woodland Grove, 720/722 Mansfield Road, Woodthorpe, Nottingham NG5 3FW

The following 11 Post Office Branches are proposed for replacement by an outreach solution:

• Anwick, 1a River Lane, Anwick, Sleaford NG34 9SP
• Allington, The Green, Allington, Grantham NG32 2EA
• Barkston, 5 Church Street, Barkston, Grantham NG32 2NB
• Brant Broughton, The Forge, High Street, Brant Broughton , Lincoln LN5 0SL
• Castle Bytham, 19-21 Pinfold Road, Castle Bytham Grantham NG33 4RG
• Folkingham, The Old School, 7 Market Place, Folkingham, Sleaford NG34 0SE
• Harby Low Street, Harby, Newark NG23 7EA
• Kinoulton, Hall Lane, Kinoulton, Nottingham NG12 3EF
• Rippingale, 5 Middle Street, Rippingale, Bourne PE10 0SU
• South Witham, 14 High Street, South Witham, Grantham NG33 5QB
• Woolsthorpe, Main Street, Woolsthorpe, Grantham NG32 1LY

Tags: post office closures, gordon brown, labour party, geoff hoon mp, alan meale mp, liberal democrat party, ashfield constituency, amnsfield constituency, conservative party, indepenedent councillor[tags]post office closures, gordon brown, labour party, geoff hoon mp, alan meale mp, liberal democrat party, ashfield constituency, amnsfield constituency, conservative party, indepenedent councillor[/tags]