Westcliff sans un post office - the unacceptable face of reorganisation / rationalisation / cuts

A no expense sign (ha ha ha)

Joyous news about where customers can now go

This is what the Post Office’s External Affairs Manager has to say about the continued closure of the post office in Hamlet Court Road :-

Thank you for you email. I can confirm that Westcliff on Sea Post Office, located at 150 Hamlet Court Road, SS0 7LN, is temporarily closed for operational reasons

I would also like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience caused by the temporary closure of this service, and to reassure you that we are investigating how services can be restored to the local community, including the possibility of the Post Office being run by Temporary Postmaster, if practical

In the meantime, should your receive any inquiries from local residents or businesses, the nearest alternative Post Office branches are:

Southend-on-Sea Post Office – 207 High Street, Southend-on-Sea SS1 1LN – 0.8 miles

Sutton Road Post Office – 88 Sutton Road, Southend-on-Sea SS2 5EW – 1.2 miles

Leigh Road Post Office – 82 Leigh Road, Leigh-on-Sea SS9 1BZ – 1.9 miles

When I have any further information I will update you. However, in the meantime, if I can be of any further assistance then please do contact me.

This is a far from satisfactory. I cannot say for certain how long this post office has been closed, but it has to be over a month. There is no close convenient alternative. We currently have no post office for all of Westcliff-on-Sea. Quite how many people this affects I really do not know, but it surely runs into thousands, possibly tens of thousands.

I was never keen on the idea of post offices being moved into the like of W H Smith. Is this further evidence that this drive to economise comes at the cost of customer access?

This once housed a post office

More concerns about the High Street Post Office in W H Smiths

Milton ward councillor Julian Ware-Lane had expressed concerns about the move of the High Street  Post  Office into the W H Smith store. It was something that concerned not least because he could foresee issues with access.

This move has happened in the last year, with mixed views as to its success. Some customers do not like having to traipse through the stationery store and bookshop to purchase stamps, etc; others are stoical.

Recent rains have seen the roof leak in the building that house WH Smith and now the Post Office. The leak cause all self service machines to fail. There was water all over the floor; this affected access to Post Office services.

Cllr Ware-Lane said: "Having the Post Office counters above the ground floor not only makes access a little more difficult, but it is also liable to these  sort of extreme weather incidents."

Deputy Leader of the Labour Group on Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, Cllr Anne Jones, said: "Labour councillors and activists spoke to many members of the public, prior to the Post Office moving to their current premises. The most frequent concern was that it would be located on the first floor and could be inaccessible to wheelchair users, mobility scooter users and people with children in prams. It is appalling that not only did the post office dismiss these concerns, but the premises underwent only a cosmetic refurbishment and not a proper upgrade. The concern all along was that the building would  not be fit for purpose. Furthermore, it is not particularly safe for the public to use."

Save Leigh Post Office campaign day

Cllr David Norman turned up to lend his support

It was a little chilly but that did not dampen the enthusiasm of those who attended the Save Leigh Post Office Campaign Day. Two hours of light snow, near-freezing temperatures, plenty of signatories to the petition, and many toots from passing motorists. This is an important campaign, and one I reckon can be won by people power.

Alex Nicholas, Ashleigh Condon, Mike Smith

A young man who wants his post office kept open

A good crowd assembled by midday

I did not count all who attended the event, numbers that grew considerably during the two hours that it ran for. It was mostly Labour Party members, but we had Greens and at least one Tory, plus a media celebrity.

Phil Jupitus and Ashleigh Condon

This is not a Labour campaign, but it is a campaign supported by Labour in Southend.

I encourage you all to like the Facebook page.

A community is more than just a collection of customers - save Leigh post office

https://www.facebook.com/saveleighpo

I think Post Offices are important. I think this for a number of reasons.

The most obvious is the services they provide. Whilst some of what they offer is available elsewhere, the local post office is still the go-to place for so many things.

The post office is trusted in ways that make them the envy of many businesses. You can trust your local post office.

Service is a word that comes to mind when I think of post offices. An unhurried and genuine service, so often absent in other places.

Whilst mergers may make business sense, depriving a community of its post office diminishes that community, much like closing a library, or public convenience. A community is more than just a collection of customers.

Please like the SAVE Leigh-on-Sea Post Office Facebook page.

Southend-on-Sea Crown Post Office proposed move

There is a proposal to move the Post Office in the High Street into W H Smith, a geographical relocation of two doors away.

On the surface this may not appear to be the cause of much disruption. As can be seen from the photograph here, they both currently occupy the same block. Customers of the Post Office will not be forced into making a more difficult journey because of this proposal.

Almost side by side - the Post Office and W H Smith at the moment

However, there are some potential concerns. Will sharing with a commercial enterprise mean impact on the service currently being delivered by the Post Office? Will the new premises, and the obvious accommodation compromises that will have to be made, make for conflict between the two businesses? Will those collecting pensions, etc, feel under pressure to spend? Will the joint premises be able to accommodate the likely increase in footfall?

There is an ongoing consultation process. This was sent me last week :

I am contacting you to let you know that we’re proposing to move Southend-on-Sea Crown Post Office to the WHSmith store at 207 High Street, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 1LN.  This move is part of our ongoing modernisation of the Post Office network and will allow us to maintain a Crown Post Office in Southend-on-Sea while providing a new modern branch for our customers from a bright new environment.  If the move goes ahead the branch would continue to be run and staffed by Post Office Ltd with the existing branch team from within the WHSmith store.

The following was sent to me today:

Following on from  recent correspondence regarding our proposal for Southend on Sea Crown Post Office, I am contacting you to advise that Post Office Ltd have arranged a customer forum. The customer forum is a drop in event for local residents, businesses, customers and stakeholders to share their views on the Post Office proposal and also provides an opportunity to talk to a representative from the Post Office and ask us any questions.

We would like to invite you  to the customer forum which will take place on 6^th September at the University of Essex Southend Campus, Gateway Building, Elmer Approach , Southend-on-Sea , SS1 1LW.

The event runs  from 4.00pm to 7.00pm and people are welcome to drop in at any time throughout the session.

Please feel free to share this information  with anyone that may have an interest in attending,

I would encourage all to have their say.

The online consultation can be found here.