Vital community asset

Relief greeted the announcement in January this year from Alistair Darling, then Trade and Industry Secretary, of new guarantees to protect post offices in the most remote parts of Scotland from closure. Anger is expected to greet the announcement today of the closure of 44 post offices in greater Glasgow, central Scotland and Argyll and Bute. What was good news for remote communities several months ago has become bad news for post offices in largely urban areas. As The Herald reveals this morning, half of the branches identified for closure are in greater Glasgow, many serving deprived and disadvantaged areas.

The post office can be as vital a community asset in these areas as it is in the hinterland. But it would not be correct to infer that rural areas are gaining as a consequence of branch losses in cities and towns. Several factors have come into play to cause both to lose out. Traditional levels of subsidy have been removed and an obligation to prevent avoidable closure expired a year ago. Post offices were expected to diversify to survive in a harsher climate but are doing so with much of their traditional business going elsewhere as a result of government policy.

Most pensions and welfare benefits are paid into bank accounts and commissions from over-the-counter transactions covering financial services and banking have failed to make up for the loss in payments for government business. Against that backdrop, Mr Darling had announced in his previous post last December that 2500 branches across Britain would close within three years, with 500 replaced by a service provided in places such as village halls. What that announcement means for postmasters and mistresses and their customers is becoming clear. With today's announcement there will be a reduction of some 40% in the number of branches in the west of Scotland in the 10 years to 2018. That will be a heavy loss for communities to bear and the number of branches closing will increase as the programme is rolled out across Scotland.

It is true that matters could not remain as they were. The Post Office loses many millions of pounds a year (largely because of the loss of government business) and the levels of subsidy, which could also be counted in their millions, could not be sustained. According to the Post Office, the strategy is to put on a firm footing those branches the public desires and wants to use. This suggests a centralisation of services on high streets (often located in stores) and in shopping centres.

That is all very well for people who are in a position to make ready use of these branches but there are many who, because of their economic circumstances and place of residence, are unable to do so. The neat solution being put in place does not suit this country in its entirety, not just because of the rural hinterland but also because of social and economic deprivation, must of it concentrated in west-central Scotland. It appears that the planned closure programmes will hit areas and communities that rely more heavily on post offices disproportionately hard. To do so would be iniquitous as well as wrong-headed.