Noise levels rise over post office sell-off plan

The noise around Post Office Ltd’s plans to franchise the St Leonards Crown PO hit new heights at a meeting called by the campaign to save it. The meeting brought together all the interested parties, including the MP, council leader and a Post Office Ltd representative, who reported that no decision had yet been taken on the proposed franchise. HOT reporter Nick Terdre, also a campaign supporter, reports.

“Noise” is Post Office Ltd (POL)’s euphemism for expressions of opposition from the public over its plans to sell off all the country’s Crown POs. For POL, the less noise and public engagement, the better.

In St Leonards, however, as elsewhere, it has run up against the inconvenient fact that people don’t want their Crown PO to be replaced by a franchise operation as POL intend. Opposition is spearheaded by the Save St Leonards Crown PO campaign which since it got going nearly a year ago has gained more than 8,000 signatures for its petition and more than 500 pledges not to buy non PO goods from the franchised store if POL’s plan goes ahead.

On Saturday, despite heavy rain showers, more than 60 people filled the Isabel Blackman centre in St Leonards to hear what campaigners have been up to and what other interested parties had to say.  The latter included POL’s Laura Tarling, local MP Amber Rudd, council leader Peter Chowney, Mole Meade of the Communications Workers Union and Jennifer Jones from the Save the Newhaven Crown PO campaign.

Sour note

Although feelings about the franchise plan run high, the meeting proceeded in an orderly fashion chaired by Erica Smith (also a HOT member but on this occasion wearing her campaigner’s hat). The only sour note came at the end when a ‘flashmob’ action involving campaign supporters entering the post office after the meeting to send off postcards of protest to POL found their way barred by security guards – apparently to protect the post office workers from hostile actions. That was an insult to well-behaved protesters.

Much of the meeting was devoted to campaigners’ criticisms of POL’s chosen franchisee Selva Muttiah, who already holds several post office franchises and has just been awarded the franchise for Newhaven. Investigations had shown that Mr Muttiah has a conviction for selling alcohol to minors  at another  of his convenience stores.

Despite Ms Tarling’s assurances that a rigorous process of assessment of Mr Muttiah had been carried out, Jennifer Jones of the Newhaven campaign told the meeting she had unearthed evidence indicating that, contrary to Mr Muttiah’s claims, the sale of alcohol had taken place while the store involved also housed a sub post office.

Campaigners argued that Mr Muttiah was not a suitable person to be awarded the franchise. They were also concerned that his main motivation was to sell off the PO building, which he has agreed to buy from POL, at a profit.

10-year franchise

According to Ms Tarling, the franchise is for a term of 10 years and includes the stipulation that no alcohol will be sold from the premises. Once the franchise ends, however, there is no guarantee that a post office presence would be maintained in central St Leonards and POL would be under no obligation to provide one.

A lot of criticism was also aimed at POL for its inadequate communications. The user forum held in the Royal Victoria Hotel in August was poorly publicised, with a small notice displayed in the post office but no notice in local newspapers – according to POL, it could not afford the expense. In the event the forum, intended to inform the public of the franchise solution, was well attended only due to the efforts of the campaign to publicise it.

But campaigners made the point that attempts to elicit information from POL had proved frustrating – evasive answers had been received, questions had not been not answered and important information had been refused on the grounds of commercial confidentiality.

They also said that POL, which is required under its code of conduct to communicate its plans and decisions to local community bodies, had only attempted to contact one such body, Age UK, but the attempt had failed as it used an out-of-date email address.

POL sees a diminishing role for Crown POs, or directly managed POs as they prefer to call them, as the way people use them is changing. But as CWU’s Mole Meade explained to the meeting, post offices could take on an important and very relevant role by providing banking services at a time when bank branches are  disappearing at an alarming rate.

Council proposal

Cllr Chowney told the meeting he did not believe Mr Muttiah’s business model, selling newspapers and tobacco alongside running the post office counters, was viable. As an alternative Hastings Borough Council would be prepared to consider buying the building and working with a consortium of local businesses to take on the franchise. Turning the upper floors of the building into housing could make such a scheme viable, he said.

Ms Rudd, who arrived halfway through the meeting, said she had looked at the terms of the franchise  and concluded that it offered customers at least as good a service as is available at present – the same services and products would be available from the same location, and opening hours on Saturdays, to 5.30pm rather than 1pm, would be improved. When asked if she would sign the boycott pledge, she refused, saying that she did not believe in boycotts.

The meeting came to an end with a call from the floor for POL to suspend its arrangement with Mr Muttiah and for the council and MP to put their heads together and discuss a solution along the lines suggested by Cllr Chowney. And indeed the two did have a brief discussion, with Ms Tarling listening in, as the meeting broke up.

Both Ms Rudd and Ms Tarling told him the council should have approached POL last year, when its intention of replacing the Crown PO was made public, Cllr Chowney told HOT. At the time the council believed the plan would be subject to public consultation and was devoting its efforts to saving the Crown PO. Again communications appear to have been lacking.

Council involvement would not be novel – in Manchester a Crown PO service is run out of the town hall with council backing, as Ms Jones told the meeting.

For more information about the campaign:
email: crownpostoffice@gmail.com
visit the Facebook page, or look at the noticeboard outside Love Café in Norman Road

 

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