Church Fights to Keep Post Offices Open

The Church of England is campaigning hard to keep post office services alive in the Thames Valley.
The Archdeacons of Berkshire, Buckingham and Oxford are encouraging all the clergy and churchgoers in the Oxford Diocese to get involved in the current consultations on sub-post office closures.

The Diocese of Oxford, which covers the three counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, includes sizeable rural areas where post office services are particularly vital. Currently, almost half of rural post office customers aged over 65 rely on their local provider to claim their pension and benefit payments and 80 per cent use their post office at least once a week.

The Post Office is now engaged in a consultation process which is expected to result in a significant number of closures. Just last month the consultation document for West Berkshire was published outlining the closures of 14 branches.

‘Post offices provide valuable services to the community,’ says the Archdeacon of Buckingham, the Venerable Karen Gorham. ‘Where they are under threat, partnerships between the local church and the post office are one way of keeping these services available.

‘There are examples of post offices opening up inside church buildings in a number of dioceses and there is no reason why churches in this diocese shouldn’t follow that example.

‘It is good use of our church buildings and gives them wider community use, as long as we can tackle issues such as security and flexibility. At the very least, churches should be discussing this option with their local communities and with post office officials.’

 Announcements about planned closures in Oxfordshire, Slough and Buckinghamshire are to follow in the next six months.

Canon Glyn Evans, the Diocesan Rural Officer, is concerned about the continuing erosion of local facilities in rural communities. ‘The Church is active in promoting access to local facilities for local people including post offices.’

‘There are already a number of examples of rural churches working with other community organisations to help provide outreach services and campaigning on behalf of those who need them,’ he said.

In some instances where closures are being proposed, customers will be directed to nearby branches. However, in some places, distance or lack of transport could make this difficult for many people.

The Venerable Julian Hubbard, Archdeacon of Oxford, says: ‘Those who will be most affected are the young and the old, those on lower incomes, people with disabilities and carers. The Church cares about these people.’

The Venerable Norman Russell, Archdeacon of Berkshire, says: ‘Local people are considering these closures very carefully, and they will be responding if they feel they will be disadvantaged by having valuable services taken away.’