We know now that 19 more Post Offices across Bedfordshire are scheduled to close. That includes 5 Post Offices in Bedford itself and more in the outlying villages, such as, Biggleswade, Blunham, Old Warden, Southill and Stewartby, to name but five. These continue the pattern of closures already experienced in 2004.
When will this myopic destruction of a valuable national resource come to an end?
From a peak of some 25,000 offices in the mid-1960s, the Post Office network began to decline in size as early as 1970. Some 6,000 ad hoc closures had taken place by 1997 mainly due to the lack of any policy or support to help the network adapt to wider changes in society.
In 1999 there were 14,416 branches remaining. Just under 2,500 closed as part of the urban reinvention programme in the early 2000s. This cut the number of branches in towns and cities, but those in rural areas were also slashed. By 2007 Post Office branch numbers had declined to just 10,879.
Since the network's inception, sub-post offices - owned and operated by private business people contracted as agents of the Post Office - have always formed the core of the network. Sub-post offices currently account for over 97 per cent of the network.
As if closing Post Offices was not bad enough, the high proportion of sub-post offices means the closure programme is likely to have a wider effect. When your Post Office sits inside a newsagent, a general store, or even a pub it will have been helping the owner to make a living. Without the income from the sub-post office the associated business itself is often threatened.
The people that come up with fatuous ideas like "fewer Post Offices will save us money" will rarely admit that they are seriously damaging other businesses and the surrounding social fabric as well. Those costs do not form part of their clever calculations. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that their calculations are so often wrong.
Well, here are some other figures they will certainly have missed.
The number of people living in Bedford borough in 2001 was 147,913 - an increase of 9.24% since 1991. This compares to a growth rate of just 2.35% for the UK as a whole over the same period.
The UK's population is expected to grow by 5.27% over the next 20 years. Bedford will grow by 20.72% if it maintains the same difference in growth rate. That's 30,650 extra people. And Bedford has an increasing number of older people among its citizens.
Fewer Post Offices mean people will have to travel further to get to the few remaining. Given the aging population that is likely to be by car. Duh! How does that help with the Government's professed drive to reduce the country's carbon footprint?
Is this the time to be closing Post Offices? Or is it time to be planning more?
Two local public meetings will be held over the next month where residents will be able to hear from post office bosses. The challenge will be getting them to listen in return.
The meetings will take place on Thursday, July 17 at Mid Beds District Council offices in Chicksands at 6.30 pm and on Wednesday, July 23 at the Swan Hotel, Bedford at 6.30 pm.
