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[Anson]

I understand with great regret that the Handside Post Office is one of three Post Offices in the Welwyn Hatfield area, which subject to consultation, is scheduled for closure, in spite of the immense efforts of Grant Shapps MP and the Handside Councillors to keep it open.

[kaz]

taken from Welhat Times website:

'The Post Offices set to close are in Marsden Road WGC, and in Church Road, Little Heath.

Also for the chop are two Hatfield branches, in Roe Green and Salisbury Square'

[AL10]

Oh well nevermind, in the absence of a single logical reason to oppose these closures from the people championing the campaign I shant lose too much sleep over it.

[Mighty Hatfield]

taken from Welhat Times website:

'The Post Offices set to close are in Marsden Road WGC, and in Church Road, Little Heath.

Also for the chop are two Hatfield branches, in Roe Green and Salisbury Square'

4? I thought it was 3?

Oh well, as someone who lives very near the salisbury square office, it will be a shame to lose this service, although the only one i used was their free 'cashpoint' sevice as all the machines round that way/pubs charge for withdrawls or cashback.

However, in 5 years, I have never used the services of the post office itself, and there is one but 10 mins walk away in Hatfield Town Centre, so i cant really suggest a reason for it to stay.

What WOULD be a great shame, would be for the SPOT shop that hosts the post office to close, as its a very handy place to get milk and fags - for me, not a problem to stroll to asda (and stay fit), but for the many elderly residents of old hatfield, not so easy. We shall see.

[katie sunshine]

Are there any plans to oppose the planned closures? The Handside post office serves the many elderly residents who are the least likely to be able to travel easily to the main post office and endure the very long queues. I am concerned that closures like this will affect the people who are least likely to complain but most likely to suffer the inconvenience.
What do others think?

[aforrow]

I've sent my protest to PO Ltd and urge anyone and everyone to do the same.... Concentrate on Facts,  not Emotions.....  Beuarocrats have no emotional capability..... I know they can ignore the facts,  but..........  Please do it.. and do it NOW!

RESPONSE TO POST OFFICE LTD’S COMMUNICATION OF ITS DECISION TO CLOSE THE SERVICE BASED AT ITS HANDSIDE BRANCH,  MARSDEN ROAD,  WELWYN GARDEN CITY IN SEPTEMBER 2008.
                           Andrew Forrow   2nd July 2008

I wish to register my objection to the proposed closure.   My reasons are based on the knowledge of the Town in which I have lived since 1971.    I am therefore well qualified to comment upon the specific geographical and population/demographic elements which should be considered before any such decision is made.   I require a written answer to one specific question, to be found below.
 
My comments will be confined to these aspects,  although I am against the proposal in principle.   On both a national and local basis,  it would appear to me that Government policies,  including the termination of certain contracts with Post Office Ltd., have made this situation arise.   There would have been no need for closures on this scale had the Government retained its dependence on the PO network to deliver its obligations to the Elderly,  the Young and families.

My first comment concerns the way distances are measured.   In regard to Welwyn Garden City, and in particular to the Marsden Road PO,   the letter describes the two most nearby alternatives,  the Town Centre office and the one at Peartree.   These are respectively  0.75 miles and 1.2 miles away from Marsden Road when the distance is measured on foot and takes account of roads and railways.    In addition,  your letter says that details of “several” other alternatives are included………..   There is just one – not “several” which in the Oxford English Dictionary means “more than a few”.  This single alternative is over 2.5 miles from Marsden Road unless the direct route is taken across the Golf Driving Range, the Ski Slope,  the Main Railway to Scotland,  Burrowfield Industrial Estate and the new residential area on Chequers.  Whosoever wrote this proposal has clearly never tried to make such a journey on foot.

No doubt these distances ignore local obstacles such as these and are taken “as the crow flies”.  They are surely within some Government prescribed limit within which PO customers are expected to find no difficulty in travelling.   

My second comment concerns the Sphere of Catchment for each Post Office.   The proposals also ignore the fact that there are customers who live at least 0.8 – 1.0 miles from Marsden Road already (see attached map) but who have no alternatives within range.   Those who live in the villages of Lemsford or Stanborough,  for example,  are this distance from Marsden Road.    They will be two miles from the alternatives suggested in your letter.  Many are elderly and relatively immobile.  Many do not own cars.    Their needs have been completely ignored in this exercise.    The Sphere of Catchment for the Marsden Road PO may be unusual but this does not mean that customers’ needs can be ignored wilfully.

My question, therefore,  requires an answer – and a defence of the decision on this basis alone:

What is the maximum distance a customer is expected to walk to his or her nearest PO?

My objection is based solely on the question of local demographics of age and disability/mobility and geography.  Your letter clouds the issue by referring to other demographics – to infer that there is reason in considering the sex,  race religion or ethnicity of Post Office customers is ludicrous.

Please answer my question by return:  What is the maximum distance a customer is expected to walk to his or her nearest PO?

[pjb]

Nice letter, aforrow.  I hope you get a (sensible) reply.  Please let us know what happens.

[Anson]

There is a school of thought which says that the statutory so-called consultation process is a complete charade, which is only conducted because that is what the Labour Government legislation specifies. It does not say that the Royal Mail has to take a blind bit of notice of submissions.

The pity of the Marsden Road PO is that it is a bit too close to the Town Centre Main PO, so that even though the Marsden Road PO is well used and would appear profitable, the Royal Mail's calculations are that most of these profits will 'transfer' to the Main Post if the Marsden Road PO is closed out, never mind the gross inconvenience to regular users of the Marsden Road PO, some of whom are elderly and disabled or both. Another category of user likely to be grossly inconvenienced are small business users who value a local PO with smaller queues and convenient car-parking.

Maybe the Royal Mail will take some notice of the submissions it receives, but as the saying goes 'Do not hold your breath'

[Anson]

Taken from a Grant Shapps mail-out

As you know there are currently three Post Offices slated for closure in Welwyn Hatfield. This email is to provide a quick update on the latest situation.

First of all as a reminder, the three Post Offices under threat are as follows:

1. Handside (Marsden Rd - Welwyn Garden City)
2. Salisbury Square (2 Salisbury Square - Old Hatfield)
3. Roe Green (Roe Green Centre, Bishops Rise - Hatfield)

There's also a fourth under threat in the part of Little Heath which is outside of my Welwyn Hatfield constituency but that some constituents use.

CONSULTATION HAS ENDED:
The formal consultation ended on Monday 28th July and we expect to hear about the outcome on 19th August. As ever with so called consultations (remember the one about the QE2), I'm not overly optimistic, but I do know that there were many excellent submissions made by residents and so we await the outcome with great interest and concern.


FIGHTING THE CLOSURES:
The consultation ran for six weeks from the middle of June and I set up the www.welhatpostoffices.org website to help focus opposition and keep our community up-to-speed with developments.

Ad hoc resident groups formed to research and present evidence to the consultation as to why the post offices shouldn't be shut. This included data about the number of elderly and frail people in the various catchment areas, etc.

At a national level I met with the people put in charge of the Government's closure programme and voted against the Post Office being closed. Unfortunately there was a three line whip for Labour MPs to vote for the closures.


OUTCOME OF THE CONSULTATION:
I will keep you posted as to the outcome of the Post Office closure consultation around 19th August via the Welwyn Hatfield Times and you can join in on the active thread now on the subject on the Welwyn Hatfield Forum at:
http://www.shapps.com/forum/index.php?topic=2794.0


These potential Post Office closures come hot on the heals of services at our QE2 Hospital being slashed to the bare bones and alongside the prospect of GP Surgeries being threatened with closure. I do wonder whether the Government has just given up on Welwyn Hatfield. After all, it was only just before the last election (three years ago) that Gordon Brown was promising a new super-hospital in Hatfield.

I will keep fighting and of course keep you posted with developments.

Yours,
Grant Shapps MP

[Anson]

The following thread has been posted by Grant Shapps on the main Welwyn Hatfield Board

ALL --

I hear that the decision is to axe all 3 Welwyn Hatfield Post Offices under threat of closure and that they will be closed in the next 1 to 3 months. The decision will be formally announced later on Tuesday 19th.

This will draw to close the latest of the so called consultations carried out by government and its agencies in recent years and will see our local Post Office network further affected.

Following on from the closure of the most important major service at the QE2 Hospital, these Post Office closures may proceed the next issue which may be the axing of our GP Surgeries. If you have not already therefore signed the www.SaveMySurgery.com campaign, then please turn your attention to it now.

People do rightly ask whether all this campaigning can or will make any difference and the obvious conclusion of the past few years has been that no one seems to be listening. Ultimately it is the case that we need to see a change in government because it has become quite clear that the current one has completely given up on our area.

I'm very unhappy with the way that the Post Office consultation has been conducted. A number of key facts seem to have been ignored and we will once again have to see whether there are grounds for further appeal.

Grant.