To receive and consider the recommendations of the Cabinet (Minute 391(a)) as an amendment to the following Notice of Motion submitted previously to the Council by Councillor Hannaford and referred thereto in accordance with Standing Order 8(2), namely;
Council notes with concern that;
Britain’s 11,500 post office branches are facing mounting financial pressures. It is claimed financial pressures have already forced up to 1,000 out of business. More customers are now going online to buy stamps and parcels for postage. More people are also using the web to pay bills and to use government services.
Government subsidies for remote post office branches have already fallen from
£415million in 2013-14 to £99million in 2017-18. Under current plans this will fall further to £50million in 2020-21 before being stopped completely. At the moment Post Office Limited, which is owned by the Government, replaces branches when they shut, but campaigners have warned that the rate of closures in the coming years will make this impossible.
This Council believes that:
Our post offices are a key asset for the community, and the expertise and
experience of staff there is invaluable. The relentless franchising and closure
programme of the profit-making Crown post Offices, points to a lack of vision
rather than the plan for growth and innovation that is needed. Government should therefore halt these closures and bring together stakeholders, including the CWU, industry experts, and business leaders, to develop a new strategy that safeguards the future of the Post office.
Therefore, Council resolves;
To formally write to the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and all our local Members of Parliament, calling on the Government to guarantee their future. We are calling for the network to be properly funded, with a full range of services over the counter for those who are not online, and better support for the development of community hub models.
Having had regard to the aforementioned, any factual briefing/position statement on the matter set out in Report (CSO/19/20) and other suggestions or alternatives considered at that meeting the Cabinet subsequently resolved:
(i) that Council urges Government to give consideration to the opportunities for further commercial support for rural, coastal and other ‘community’ critical post office locations, reflecting the challenges around the franchise model in many of these locations and their centrality to local service delivery;
(ii) that Council further urges Government to give consideration to the potential to better utilise and work with the post office network on wider service delivery, beyond financial transactions, and their potential role in competitive processes around regeneration and deprivation through key socio-economic Departments (MHCLG, BEIS, DCMS, DoH etc);
(iii) that Council note the ongoing work to map community assets including Post Offices and banks to identify gaps in physical banking facilities in market towns and for populations at least six miles from their nearest post office outlet; and
(iv) that Council supports links to communities and organisations wanting to develop and sustain the Post Office network in Devon, particularly where gaps in physical banking facilities exist.
Minutes:
Pursuant to County Council Minute 223 of 25 July 2019 relating to the Notice of Motion set out below as previously submitted and formally moved and seconded by Councillor Hannaford:
Council notes with concern that;
Britain’s 11,500 post office branches are facing mounting financial pressures. It is claimed financial pressures have already forced up to 1,000 out of business. More customers are now going online to buy stamps and parcels for postage. More people are also using the web to pay bills and to use government services.
Government subsidies for remote post office branches have already fallen from
£415million in 2013-14 to £99million in 2017-18. Under current plans this will fall further to £50million in 2020-21 before being stopped completely. At the moment Post Office Limited, which is owned by the Government, replaces branches when they shut, but campaigners have warned that the rate of closures in the coming years will make this impossible.
This Council believes that:
Our post offices are a key asset for the community, and the expertise and
experience of staff there is invaluable. The relentless franchising and closure
programme of the profit-making Crown post Offices, points to a lack of vision
rather than the plan for growth and innovation that is needed. Government should therefore halt these closures and bring together stakeholders, including the CWU, industry experts, and business leaders, to develop a new strategy that safeguards the future of the Post office.
Therefore, Council resolves;
To formally write to the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and all our local Members of Parliament, calling on the Government to guarantee their future. We are calling for the network to be properly funded, with a full range of services over the counter for those who are not online, and better support for the development of community hub models.
and having had regard to the advice of the Cabinet set out in Minute 391(a) of 11 September 2019:
Councillor Hart MOVED and Councillor McInnes SECONDED that the Cabinet’s advice be accepted and that the spirit of the Notice of Motion be approved and,
(i) that Council urges Government to give consideration to the opportunities for further commercial support for rural, coastal and other ‘community’ critical post office locations, reflecting the challenges around the franchise model in many of these locations and their centrality to local service delivery;
(ii) that Council further urges Government to give consideration to the potential to better utilise and work with the post office network on wider service delivery, beyond financial transactions, and their potential role in competitive processes around regeneration and deprivation through key socio-economic Departments (MHCLG, BEIS, DCMS, DoH etc);
(iii) that Council note the ongoing work to map community assets including Post Offices and banks to identify gaps in physical banking facilities in market towns and for populations at least six miles from their nearest post office outlet; and
(iv) that Council supports links to communities and organisations wanting to develop and sustain the Post Office network in Devon, particularly where gaps in physical banking facilities exist.
The amendment in the name of Councillor Hart was then put to the vote and declared CARRIED and subsequently thereafter also CARRIED as the substantive motion, nem con.