Action Briefing Apr 2004 - May 2004
	The Newsletter of Birmingham Friends of the Earth

New dawn or last post?

A few streets away from the Warehouse, at 58/59 Cheapside, is the local Post Office. Just starting to filter through to this part of Birmingham is the realisation that Cheapside is not far from the Rag Market. The barriers are coming down. There are plans to increase the number of people living in this part of the City too.

It hardly needs to be stated, but if people are to live there, changes are needed. People like streets that are walkable and welcoming: living streets. Living streets need local shops and services, such as post offices, the cornerstones of local communities.

There are over 17,000 post offices in the UK, visited by 28 million people at least once a week. Strangely, with such a popular ‘brand’, and the fact that services inside have improved, such as being able to withdraw cash using your plastic debit card, there is little marketing. I have for many years had in my possession a blue Post Office Savings book but I never hear of fresh accounts being opened. It was no surprise to recently be told that the service is to go.

The impersonal email has replaced a great many letters, but when you do choose to write, so far nothing can substitute for getting the right stamps for the unknown weight package to be sent either in Britain or abroad. If you underestimate the stamps, in the UK the recipient must pay a fine and go to the sorting office to collect the letter. So what does the Post Office do to help us select the right stamps? Answer: they’ll make the service even harder to reach.

The plan to further dilute the network of post offices will be a major inconvenience to many people and can only damage the postal service. Yet some of those defending the Post Office against this 'downsizing' have been defensive and apologetic in their arguments. Opposition has focused on aspects of post offices such as their providing an essential service for older and disabled people. These are worthy arguments. The pressure group Living Streets (see page 5) researched the needs of older and disabled Londoners and found that more than half of survey respondents walk to the post office. Doubtless a similar survey in Birmingham would find the same thing.

But there is another argument too; these are facilities owned by the public, they are important, and they must stay. In the case of Cheapside, the proposal is to close the branch and promote the one at 174 Stratford Road (Sparkbrook) or the branch at Gooch Street. This is hardly a good start to plans to breathe life back into the streets of Cheapside.

Now is not the time to accept the poor marketing of the Post Office network and adopt a ‘lie down and die' approach. Write to Paul Maisey, Head of Area, Post Office Ltd, c/o National Consultation Team, PO Box 2060, Watford, WD18 8ZW and let him know your views.

John Davison