Post office closures 'asset stripping' South Bersted community

The branches in Station Road, Hawthorn and Gordon Avenue (South Bersted) are set to be closed during the summer.

The Gordon Avenue branch caused particular concern because its customers will have to either come into the town centre or head to Durlston Drive to the nearest branch.

They are among the five outlets earmarked by Post Office Ltd to be shut. The town council sent its strong condemnation of the plans before the March 10 deadline for public comments. Some 4,500 protests were sent regarding the closure plans in Surrey, Berkshire and West Sussex.

But Monday's meeting of the town council was the first time most councillors had the chance to make their views known in public.

Cllr Paul Wells said: "Taking these post offices out of their areas is asset stripping of their local communities. I am really concerned this is another nail in the coffin for local communities.

"It's a really sad day for this country the way communities are being destroyed by progress, if it can be called that."

Cllr Simon McDougall said the council could only hope that the widescale protests about the proposals would see one or two of the post offices being reprieved.

"These post offices are the softest targets. Closing them would hit the most vulnerable people in society when it comes to ability to travel, car ownership and the percentage of the population over 65 and 80.

"What I think has failed to be taken into account by the Post Office Ltd and the government is the fact that, for many elderly people, the post office is very much at the heart of their community and going there is the highlight of their week. It can sometimes be their only contact with the outside world. That network is the lifeline of the country," he said.