Agenda item

Resolved: that the Committee refer its views to Mayor and Cabinet, as follows-

·         The Committee notes the Council's decision in February 2017 to oppose the closure of New Cross crown post office and for the same reasons outlined in that decision the Committee opposes the closure of Sydenham crown post office. The Committee believes the loss of skilled jobs, skilled staff and the economic impact on the high street would be a serious blow to the local economy and to consumers.

·         The Committee asks that the Mayor write to the government minister responsible, and the Chief Executive of the Post Office, about the potential loss of Sydenham crown post office.

·         The Committee requests that Council officers be tasked with investigating how lease arrangements might be negotiated to retain the crown post office in Sydenham for the benefit of the local community.

·         The Chair of Committee intends to write to Jim Dowd about the potential closure Sydenham crown post office and asks that the Mayor do the same.

·         The Committee recommends that the Council should request further information from the Post Office about its strategy to preserve the full range of post office services for Lewisham residents.

It was noted that the Post Office had sent a written update about their proposed changes to crown post office services in Lewisham but due to short notice they were unable to send a representative to the meeting.

Mole Meade (Communication Workers Union) and Peter Meech (Communication Workers Union) addressed the Committee. The following key points were noted:

·         The only place that was legally allowed to provide biometric residency checking services in the local community was the post office.

·         Post offices had specialist machines that were used for providing Border Agency Services. These machines used biometrics and were operated by specially trained staff.

·         The CWU believed that the information being provided to the public by the Post Office about closing and franchising post offices was inaccurate both by intent and omission.

·         There were a number of problems with the post office franchising programme, including: the loss of specialist staff and services from established post offices as well as the frequent turnover of staff at new franchised post offices because of the typically low levels of pay on offer.

·         The lease of the Sydenham post office building was owned by Lewisham Council. In Manchester, the Council had offered the post office the subsidised use of the building for a nominal level of rent.

·         The lease for the Sydenham post office finished in April.

·         There would be a demonstration in Sydenham in two weeks. There would also be public meetings to organise campaigns against the closure and franchising of both post offices.

·         Politicians from all political parties had supported the campaign against post office closures.

·         The post office on Rye Lane in Peckham closed last year, with the promise that another post office would open in the vicinity. However, the replacement post office was moved to a building on a leasing arrangement that was now coming to an end, meaning that there would soon be no services for the community.

·         WHSmtihs had taken on lots of franchises for post offices.

·         There were regular changes of staff in Lewisham’s post office, which was based in a WHSmiths.

·         Post offices that were franchised were at risk of being closed if the businesses that were hosting them failed.

·         The number of crown post offices had reduced substantially over time.

·         The post office was losing half a million customers every year.

·         Sub post masters were finding it difficult to maintain services because of the lack of direction being provided by the organisation.

·         In France the post office had been turned into a bank, which made substantial annual profits.

·         The CWU had put forward a plan to save the industry.

·         The Union had asked the Post Office to meet together with the government to discuss the plans to save post offices, but the meeting had not been forthcoming.

·         Current plans to continue to reduce the number of post offices would be detrimental for local communities, but with the support of communities, a number of post offices had been prevented from closure.

Mole Meade and Peter Meech responded to questions from the Committee and in the discussion that followed these key points were noted:

·         It was not clear what the long term strategy for the post office was.

·         There were some areas of the UK that had very few post offices and there was limited access to post office services.

·         Crown post offices provided some DVLA and border agency services that could not be delivered from a franchised post office. Also, smaller post offices could not able to store parcels for ‘click and collect’ services.

·         The CWU would provide a list of services that would be lost in Lewisham if New Cross Gate and Sydenham post offices closed – as well as a list of the distances people might need to travel from Lewisham to access those services.

·         There was no legal requirement to provide a range of post office service in a local area. The Post Office Act stipulated that there had to be a post office within 1 mile of 99% of the population in an urban area and 3 miles in a rural area, but the Act did not specify what services should be provided.

·         The CWU was working with politicians from all parties to build support for the future of the Post Office.

Resolved: that the Committee refer its views to Mayor and Cabinet, as follows-

·         The Committee notes the Council's decision in February 2017 to oppose the closure of New Cross crown post office and for the same reasons outlined in that decision the Committee opposes the closure of Sydenham crown post office. The Committee believes the loss of skilled jobs, skilled staff and the economic impact on the high street would be a serious blow to the local economy and to consumers.

·         The Committee asks that the Mayor write to the government minister responsible, and the Chief Executive of the Post Office, about the potential loss of Sydenham crown post office.

·         The Committee requests that Council officers be tasked with investigating how lease arrangements might be negotiated to retain the crown post office in Sydenham for the benefit of the local community.

·         The Chair of Committee intends to write to Jim Dowd about the potential closure Sydenham crown post office and asks that the Mayor do the same.

·         The Committee recommends that the Council should request further information from the Post Office about its strategy to preserve the full range of post office services for Lewisham residents.