Over the past three months the Liberal Democrats in North Somerset, spear headed by local campaigner and Parliamentary Candidate Dr Brian Mathew, have been undertaking a survey of the use of the Post Offices in an effort to prove how important they are to village and town life in the constituency. With two post offices threatened with imminent closure at Barrow Gurney and Nailsea Kingshill it is hoped that this information may help to prove to the bosses of the Post Office in London that the Post Offices are needed in North Somerset.
 
In all 10,000 households were contacted in the survey and over 500 responded. This showed that on average householders visited the post office between 2 and 3 times per week, that the purchase of postage stamps (96%) and postage of personal parcels (90%) was the main activity with 37% of households using the banking facilities and 20% of respondents collecting their pensions from the post office. 17% of householders reported using the post office to send business parcels.  Of the items most requested 51% said they wanted to be able to pay for their road tax at post offices and 26% wanted to be able to pay for TV licences again. 14% said they paid their household bills for electricity, council tax and phone at the post office. Other services valued included posting special and recorded delivery items, obtaining passports, foreign currency and buying premium bonds, as well as shopping locally for grocery and stationery items.
 
The lesson from this exercise is that the Post Office is still a vital institution, but one that has been devalued by the withdrawal of some services like TV licence renewal. However with fuel prices on the rise as we approach the tipping point for oil, it is doubly important to keep local services. Also with an aging population how can pensioners be expected to travel all day to post a letter or withdraw their pensions if they no longer have a post office near by? It seems obvious that post offices and local shops are going to become more and more important in the coming years as both a focal point for communities as well as to provide vital services. This is not something the Tories can be honest about defending, as they oversaw the closure of over 3,500 post offices under Thatcher and Major. The Lib Dems are meanwhile campaigning to keep every post office open in the country.
 
Members of the public are encouraged to keep up their own pressure in Nailsea Kingshill and Barrow Gurney by writing to: the National Consultation Team, Post Office Ltd, Freepost Consultation Team, or e-mail them at info@postwatch.co.uk
 

Brian Mathew with Marion Burlinson the Post Mistress of Barrow Gurney Post Office