Decision on Highlands of Scotland Area plan

Post Office Ltd today announced decisions on the future of Post Office® branches across the Highlands of Scotland, following a six week public consultation ending on 18 February.

Post Office® services will be provided through a network of 181 branches, which supports the national accessibility criteria introduced by the UK Government and ensures that 99.5% of the area’s population will either see no change to their existing branch or will remain within one mile (by road distance) of an alternative branch.

The plan confirmed today (March 11 2008) means that 17 branches will close in the area, with the first closures scheduled to take place in April 2008. These branches were detailed in the Area Plan proposal published on 8 January 2008. In addition, Post Office Ltd is also confirming the creation of 11 outreach post office services.

One branch originally proposed for closure – Pulteneytown in Wick – will now remain open following a review of the issues raised during consultation. These issues related to local demographics. Post Office Ltd was concerned that the closure would severely disadvantage vulnerable groups in the area and that alternative branches were not sufficiently easy to reach. There are no proposals for any further closures in the Highlands area plan.

These decisions have been reached after consultation and Postwatch, the consumer body representing Post Office® customers, has verified the correct consultation procedures were followed.

During the six-week local public consultation, Post Office Ltd received around 1,500 responses and attended 12 meetings with customers and their representatives to understand customers’ concerns. This was to ensure that all information provided by customers formed part of the final decision regarding each affected branch.

Sally Buchanan, Post Office Ltd’s Network Development Manager for Scotland, said: "These are difficult decisions which have not been taken lightly. We have considered very carefully all the comments made during the public consultation.

"We believe that the amended plan announced today offers our customers across the Highlands of Scotland the best prospect for a sustainable network in the future, bearing in mind the UK Government’s minimum access criteria and the other factors they have asked us to consider."

Full details of the decisions and the issues raised during local public consultation are available by visiting www.postoffice.co.uk/networkchange or by writing to Post Office Ltd at Freepost Consultation Team (no stamp needed) or by emailing [email protected]

Post Office® branches in the following parliamentary constituencies are included in the Highlands of Scotland plan: Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey; Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross; Ross, Skye & Lochaber.

The following 17 Post Office® branches will be closing as part of the Highlands of Scotland Area Plan:

Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey
• Harbour Street
• Kingsmills Road
• Abriachan

Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross
• Spittal
• Barrock
• Saltburn
Ross, Skye & Lochaber
• Breakish
• Contin
• Duncanstown
• Earlish
• Killearnan
• Maryburgh
• Onich
• Rosemarkie
• Treslaig
• Waternish
• West End, Dingwall

The following 10 Post Office® Branches are proposed for replacement by an outreach solution:
• Kirkhill (Hosted)
• Kessock (Partner)
• Edderton (Hosted)
• Kildary (Hosted)
• Croy (Hosted)
• Ardesier (Partner)
• Farr (Hosted)
• Latheron (Mobile)
• Mid Clyth (Mobile)
• Canisbay (Mobile)

The final opening times of the outreach service and the date of the change will be communicated as soon as possible.

At Cawdor, Post Office Ltd advised during public consultation that it intended to provide a Hosted service to operate for three hours per week. Post Office also stated that if it was unable to identify a suitable location then our alternative would be to introduce a Mobile Post Office.

There is now an expression of interest from within the community to provide premises from which to operate a Hosted outreach service. However as yet Post Office Ltd has not been able to finalise the details. Once the specific details of the Hosted outreach service proposed for Cawdor are available, Post Office will commence a further six-week period of consultation. If Post Office Ltd is unable to finalise an agreement on the hosted site, it will introduce the Mobile Post Office for three hours a week proposed in this consultation.

The Area plan for the Highlands of Scotland also includes four postcode districts where Post Office Ltd does not meet the access criteria set out in the UK Government’s Response document. These postcode districts are namely:

IV13 – where a Hosted outreach service at the County Inn, Tomatin will be established.
PH20 – where a Hosted outreach service at the Community Resource Centre, Laggan will be established .
IV22 – where a Hosted outreach service at the Community Hall, Torridon will be established.
PH35 – where a Home outreach service at Invergarry will be installed to enable customers to access post office services in this postcode area.

The opening times of these outreach services and the date of these new arrangements will be outlined shortly.

Post Office Ltd has complied with UK Government access criteria in all Postcode districts within The Highlands Area Plan. With the introduction of new services in the postcode districts listed above, Post Office Ltd is now achieving this access criteria.