Over a thousand people have signed my petition opposing the closure of the Post Office in Batchley. I thought that you would like an update on the case that I have put to try and retain Post Office services at the site. I have written to Paul Maisey at the Post Office pointing out a few of the reasons why the Post Office have made a mistake in choosing the Abbeydale Branch for closure. First, the Post Office have already carried out an assessment of the provision in Redditch and last year shut two branches, (Beoley Road West and Rectory Road). They said at the time that this would allow them to make remaining Post Offices more robust and secure for the long term. Now we are faced with new closure plans for branches that have received none of the significant investment that other branches in the Town have enjoyed. Second, the two branches proposed for closure are the only ones in the North of the Town and they are both at the heart of significant communities. Third, both the areas served by these Post Offices - Batchley and Abbeydale are very deprived areas. Batchley has the highest unemployment rates in Worcestershire and Abbeydale is sixth in the list out of one hundred and twenty two district divisions. In fact the estates in which the Post Offices stand are the deprived centres of district divisions that are quite well off. The estates themselves really struggle economically. Both Batchley and Abbeydale estates are Sure Start areas and they have a significant population of elderly residents. Fourth, the Batchley branch in particular, forms part of a parade of shops that is very important to the local community. There is a butcher, a general grocery store, a laundrette, a pharmacy and a bookies and the Borough Council have a Neighbourhood Office there too. They have all struggled to keep going and to provide local provision of services. Shop owners are concerned that once one of them leaves the critical mass of the parade will diminish and it will become unviable. The pharmacy (the subject of speculation about its future under the recent OFT investigations) made an excellent case for keeping the Post Office open and I enclose a copy of that letter too. Fifth, the Post Office in the Town Centre is too cramped to service its customers now and queues sometimes extend into the street. Bus services to the Town Centre actually terminate about half a mile from this branch which is on the opposite side of the Town Centre. The nearest car parking is a good step away in fee paying car parks. I do not believe that the residents of Batchley and Abbeydale will find it easy to access services from the Town Centre branch. The second alternative site, Webheath, is laughable. There is no parking, let alone a bus service and it must be over a mile to walk up a large hill from Batchley. The branch is tiny and is a very long way from Abbeydale. Finally, I am dismayed that local Conservative’s are trying to make political mischief out of these proposals. In their leaflets they make false claims about the services that are available at the Post Office and in doing so discourage customers for the branches. The Conservative’s also conveniently forget that it was the Conservative Government that allowed the Post Office to shut 3,500 branches without lifting a finger to help and started paying benefits into card accounts. They rightly decided at the time that a paper based benefits system was too open to fraud and that a new system was needed. It’s a bit rich for them to pop up now and oppose modern systems and say more investment is needed. In Parliament they voted against the extra resources needed to fund the £700 million support package that the Post Office now enjoys from the government. I hope that the Post Office stop the closure of these branches. The communities need the facilities to be improved and supported not shut. To that end I am pleased to note the Post Office’s statement that community matters would be considered alongside financial concerns when considering closure plans. Yours sincerely Jacqui Smith MP | 
