Maiden Speech - Post Office Closures

Friday I made my maiden speech at a Full Council session, which was a lot of fun and extremely interesting. Councillor Ian McCord proposed a motion as follows:

This Council
- deplores the announcement by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry to close thousands of Post Office branches in the next two years;
- recognises the social benefits of the local Post Office, especially in rural areas;
- calls on the Government to reverse its decision by considering value rather as well as cost;
- calls on the Government to allow sub postmasters to provide a greater range of products and services to enhance the viability of each unit;
- calls on the Secretary of State to set out a clear list of those Post Offices that are under threat to end the uncertainty amongst the sub-Postmasters;
- calls on MPs, MEPs and candidates to work with the Council to preserve the present Post Office provision in South Northamptonshire
- pledges to oppose any cuts to the Post Office network in South Northamptonshire

This motion was something I was very happy to contribute towards and formerly second, as we need to protect our Post Offices as they are such integral elements within our rural communities.
If, despite our best efforts we lose Post Offices within our villages/towns, we as a Council need to be ready with innovative solutions to fill the gaps in our communities the loss of this vital asset would cause.

I am happy to say not only was this motion carried unanimously, a significant number of fellow Councillors of all political backgrounds stood up to re-iterate their support for the campaign - which was great news.

I'll update everyone on progress over the coming months...

My speech as follows:

In seconding this motion I call upon this council to recognise the threat to our rural Post Offices and to send a clear message to this Labour government that we deplore this programme of closure.
Post Offices are integral elements within our rural communities and provide not only critical services, but act as a “Social Heartbeat” to our communities and we all know what happens when a heartbeat is no longer present!
It is down to us all as a council to ensure that our communities are protected and enhanced; after all it is we that understand what is best for our rural communities and not a Labour minister far, far away.
We need to put pressure on PO Ltd and the government to ensure that they adopt a fair and transparent process over the next 18 months. I would argue that the consultation to date has been neither of these. To come up with a figure of 2500 closures, they must have had an inkling of where they wanted to wield the axe – was this fair, was this transparent – I think not.
Within this process of consultation they need to take into account the impact on our vulnerable, rural businesses, the environment and transport provision.
If a Post Office is closed in a medium sized village necessitating a 6 mile round trip, on average this will pump 45 tonnes of Co2 per year into the atmosphere. With the eyes of the world rightly focused on our environment, this surely cannot be right.
This analysis takes into account the people who can get there using their own transport, what about our vulnerable citizens? The NERA report 2004 which studied the cost/benefit analysis of the rural post office network stated that 56% of those classed as vulnerable did not have access to a car or found it difficult to access public transport.
Through removing their local Post Office to access critical services, these individuals would change from a 10 minute walk to a 2 hour round trip bus journey – surely this cannot be right.
The Local Government Agency’s response to the consultation paper stated that “…as community leaders and place shapers Local Authorities are also ideally positioned to facilitate the community consultation and cross-agency working that will be essential to securing a sustainable future for Post Office services.” We must use our leadership to work closely with communities, agencies and government to establish innovative solutions to the continued provision of Post Office services.
Over the next 18 months we also need to work closely with our colleagues in neighbouring authorities, to establish a cohesive approach. Communities such as King’s Sutton, Old Stratford and Upper Boddington are all situated on the boundaries of South Northants and will be impacted by potential closures in these neighbouring areas.
In closing I would like to call upon this council to adopt a pro-active approach to the ongoing Post Office closure programme. In doing so minimising the impact of any closures that are forced upon us; through the readiness of innovative, sustainable solutions to fill the gaping holes in our communities the closure of a Post Office would cause.

Village of the Year Competition

Friday was judging day for King's Sutton in the South Northants Village of the year competition. We met up with the three judges at the coffee shop and they were shown the fantastic facility that is the Millenium Memorial Hall. Over coffee we were then quizzed in a lot of depth about the village, it's infrastructure and more importantly the community.

The judges were presented with an extremely professional information pack put together by Parish Councillors Carole Hill and Tina Armstrong. The pack outlined the significant number of activities that take place in the village such as; Horticulture, Tennis, WI, Football, Needlecraft etc. The pack was well received and I am sure was a great asset to our cause.

The judges were then escorted around the village on foot, as it was a glorious morning. I am biased, but I thought the village looked stunning in the early summer sun! Particular highlights were the Parish Church, Baptist Church and the school. The judges were impressed with the school and all the hard work that has gone in and continues to go in, to make it one of the best in the County. As one of the exclaimed "...the school is the future of the community" and we are very lucky indeed that it is such a positive influence on our community.

The judges I feel left with an extremely positive view of our village, a village we are rightly proud of. I am sure we have done well in the competition, fingers crossed!!