Vanishing fast, ‘ last shops in the village’

FOUR times as many post offices are closing in rural areas than towns and cities, leaving vulnerable residents facing long journeys for vital services.

Of 3,000 vital community branches which are the ‘last shop in the village’, 500 were shut, a snapshot survey by the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters found.

In larger villages, towns and cities, just 440 out of 9,500 post offices were shut at the time of the report in September 2018.

The Post Office always tries to reopen shut branches, but many are likely to stay permanently closed because it is struggling to get anyone to take them on.

This week the Daily Mail launched a campaign to protect Britain’s local post offices amid an unprecedented crisis in the network. Up to 2,500 branches will close or be downsized in the next 12 months because of financial hardship, the NFSP said.

On Tuesday MPs were told the post office network is ‘looking over the precipice’ and recent attempts to prevent closures had been an ‘unmitigated disaster’.

Mark Baker, of the Communication Workers Union, said the closure of community post offices is a ‘massive blow’ to isolated villages. He added: ‘They are the last shop in the village. When they go residents are left in a desert. They have no access to basic shop facilities, government services, cash or the postal service.’

Peter Hall, head of policy at the NFSP, said: ‘The level of closure is unhealthily high and in rural areas they are going to struggle to find replacements.’ Community post offices are subsidised by the Government as they are not profit-making but provide vital services in remote areas.

When branches shut Post Office Limited, a Government-backed company, will try to fill the vacancy with a new sub-postmaster at the same site or in another shop.

If this fails they will allow it to close and try to replace it with a part-time ‘outreach’ service – operated from a pub, church or van. There are now 1,500 of these, up from 900 in 2010.

The Post Office, which said 350 community post offices were listed as shut in February, added: ‘We understand how much people in rural areas rely on our services. We will always work very hard to reinstate these vital services for the community.’