WITH postal services at Petersfield's Durford Road branch set to be removed on Monday, uncertainty still shrouds the four other post offices earmarked for closure in East Hampshire. After Passfield post office became Passfield Village Store on February 13, post offices in East Meon, West Meon, East Tisted and Froxfield have been "left in limbo" waiting to hear how outreach services in the Meon Valley will be configured. A meeting with East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) on Monday to discuss feedback regarding branch closures should make the picture clearer, yet Jo Patel, the postmaster of Durford Road, told of the inconvenience faced by his customers – a picture that could worsen in rural communities. "They are not very happy as they are so used to having the post office here, and the next thing they have to go into the town and park their cars to post a parcel," said Mr Patel. "It is one of those things that had to happen," Mr Patel, who has run the branch in his Londis store with wife Johti for 18 years, added pragmatically. In East Tisted, Bridget Samuels told of the waiting game she and her contemporaries in the Meon Valley have been forced to endure, and the vital provision provided by post offices in rural communities. "After the initial consultation in November and December, that made it quite clear that what was going to happen, we were going to be one of the 2,500 nationwide to close. "But there is still a need for a postal service in the four branches," she said. "While the Post Office says there is only a need for nine hours of postal services a week in Froxfield and eight hours in East Tisted, I will be keeping the post office open for as many hours as possible. "Despite only being paid for eight hours a week, I will be running the post office in East Tisted for 30 hours a week, as we've got to offer a service for the community and keep the footfall of people coming in," she added. In response to the post office closures, EHDC has set up an initiative to help six local communities deal with the impact of the closures. "We have been working alongside specialist retail consultants Stafford Rhodes and the shop owners to look at this problem," said Ken Moon, the district's lead councillor for economic development. "It's clear we need to consider the opportunities for business diversification and community investment. "Surely, the key to retaining these local services is to develop new services and increase use of the shops by residents and other businesses," Mr Moon added. And Mrs Samuels was quick to praise the efforts of the council. "EHDC and Hampshire County Council have been absolutely fantastic," she said. "They have sent out consultants trying to advise us how to change and improve our businesses. The council have realised that if post offices are closed then the soul is taken out of rural living," she added. Meanwhile, East Hampshire MP Michael Mates and Damian Hinds, the Conservative Party's prospective candidate for the district, have jointly criticised the Government over their handling of post office closures. Mr Mates said: "The Government may have won the vote in Parliament, but they did not win the argument. It is now clear that their target of 2,500 post office closures around the country was an entirely arbitrary figure which bears no relation to the profitability of individual branches. "The debate also revealed that the target is so stringent that even if a community succeeds in saving its local post office that simply means that one elsewhere will have to close in order to make up the numbers. This approach proves beyond any doubt that the consultation procedure was a total sham. "In East Hampshire we are lucky to have a county council and a district council willing to examine other options in order to keep local post offices open. I have asked Post Office Ltd to make available to the councils the necessary financial information so that they can assess whether local post offices can be supported in our communities."
