Ten Reasons To Keep the Post Office Open

More than 4,000 people have now signed the petition to keep the post office in England’s Lane open. I can only think of two policies in my adult life that have been as unpopular as the decision to downsize the Post Office – the Iraq War and the Poll Tax.

Here are ten reasons why I believe the Post Office and the government should reconsider:

1) We had three sub post offices in Belsize until recently all of which were much loved and much used. England's Lane is the last one.

2) The Post Office was negotiating with the newsagent on Haverstock Hill to re-open a sub post office there, but that negotiation was summarily ended on the day the “consultation” was announced.

3) There is no public transport to the two alternatives the Post Office has suggested – Queens Crescent and Regent’s Park Road.

4) Anyone wishing to walk to the Regent’s Park Road post office would need to climb over Primrose Hill.

5) Hampstead Post Office, which is seen by many as the next closest facility, is a long walk up a steep hill.

6) Businesses in England’s Lane that need to send parcels will now have to drive elsewhere causing carbon emissions and pollution.

7) In Belsize ward there are 660 under-5s, 1524 people with limiting long term illness, 763 lone pensioner households and 50.5% households with no car or van.

8) 18.3% of households within 1 km of the England’s Lane sub post office, that is 317 households, are within the ‘welfare borderline’ category typified by their reliance on post offices as somewhere to pay bills and obtain benefits.

9) Within 200 yards of the England’s Lane sub post office there is an older people’s sheltered housing block whose residents will be disadvantaged by closure and lack of an easily accessible alternative.

10) Around 150 young families are resident in England’s Lane Hostel nearby with many dependent on this branch for access to benefit payments through their Post Office Card Accounts.