Campaigning for Meads Lane Post Office

Have just sent the following to the National Consultation Team for Post Office®:

Dear Anita Turner,

I am emailing, as part of the public consultation on the London Area Plan, to object to your plans to close the Meads Lane Post Office in Seven Kings.

Having viewed your map of Post Offices in the locality and the criteria to which you are working in making decisions as to which Post Offices across London are to close, the basis on which Meads Lane has been selected for possible closure seems clear as it is ringed by other Post Offices, two of which are within 1 mile of Meads Lane. However, the reality on the ground for local people is very different from the simplistic and blunt instruments that are your criteria and measurements.

The Meads Lane Post Office is an efficient, profitable, well run, community-orientated business (with a second valuable community business - the sale of school uniforms - also provided from the same location). It is located on a well-used bus route (364) and although, as noted in your Branch Access Report, there is no bus stop close by, this is solely because the 364 operates on a hail and ride basis along Meads Lane meaning that access by bus is actually better than where fixed bus stops are in place. In addition, there is roadside parking available in all the surrounding roads.

The situations at the next nearest Post Offices are very different. As noted in the Branch Access Report, there is no direct bus service between Meads Lane and either of the Post Offices within 1 mile of the Meads Lane branch. This means that the only transport options are bike, car, on foot or taxi. For many elderly residents and for some disabled residents walking or cycling 0.6 or more miles will not be an option and for this group car or taxi will be the only feasible option. The roads surrounding the Seven Kings High Road Post Office are all in a controlled parking zone and the car park which the Branch Access Report notes as being 50 yards from the branch has been sold by Redbridge Council for the construction of housing meaning that these parking spaces will shortly be lost to the public. Parking at the Silverdale Parade branch is even more limited due to its being on a red route. The comment in the Branch Access Report about limited roadside parking being available nearby is therefore disingenuous as what parking is available is either exceptionally limited or some distance from the branch.

As a result, access to the Meads Lane branch is actually considerably better than at either the Seven Kings High Road or Silverdale Parade branches. This is not reflected in the Branch Access Report because a decision has been taken to only consider access in relation to those branches not considered for closure. This represents a fundamental lack of fairness in the way in which this consultation has been structured. If the Branch Access Report were to compare access to branches within a radius of 1 mile then it would be clear that Meads Lane offers good and better access than the High Road and Silverdale Parade branches.

This is not, however, the approach that the consultation has taken. Instead, access has only been considered in relation to branches that would be accessed if those branches proposed for closure were to be closed. This represents a bias in the consultation process towards the plans on which Post Office® are consulting. As a result, I am copying this email to Pat McFadden, Minister for Employment Relations & Postal Affairs, to ask his view on the biased way in which information is being presented and manipulated in this consultation and to call for a fair consultation that presents and contrasts all of the access information for all of the current branches.

It is particularly sad that this local Post Office is on the list for proposed closure since David Shah and his team work so very hard to build exceptional links with their customers and the wider community through the provision of a top quality and highly personal service. For many locals, this Post Office is a real lifeline. Through their knowledge of several languages, the staff team are able to assist those for whom English is a second language to access Post Office services. David Shah and his team also run a School Uniforms business from the same store; this is a valuable local facility, not replicated in the locality, which might also close were the Post Office to close. As a result, two valuable local facilities could be lost through the closure of this Post Office. Meads Lane is a meeting place for local people with those who are elderly, in particular, often arriving before opening hours in order to meet friends. In addition, David is well known locally for his significant charitable work.

All these factors combine to make the Meads Lane Post Office a major asset in the local community and, were it to close, one that would leave significant gaps in community facilities locally. One of my parishioners is Kathleen Perry, an osteoarthritis sufferer who is 66. She says the closure of Meads Lane branch will leave her, and other less mobile people in the area, stranded. She views your plans for closure as ridiculous. Kathy is one of more than a thousand people from the local community (including those at St John's Seven Kings) who have signed a petition opposing the closure of the Meads Lane branch.

The business and access case for closure of the Meads Lane Post Office has not be made by the information presented in the Business Access Report as crucial information is absent and branches are not compared on a like-for-like basis making the consultation both flawed and biased. For all these reasons I call for Meads Lane Post Office to remain as valued branch in the London Post Office network and a much-valued community business and service.

Yours sincerely,

Revd. Jonathan Evens
Vicar, St John The Evangelist Seven Kings

Anyone wishing to campaign to save the Meads Lane Post Office should view the consultation documents here and email Anita Turner at consultation@postoffice.co.uk .

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