A Big Issue in Whitchurch (North West Hampshire Liberal Democrats)

North West Hampshire Liberal Democrats <info@nwhantslibdems.org.uk>

A Big Issue in Whitchurch

March 8, 2005 12:38 PM

Borough Councillor Alison Wall

It has been feared for some time that Whitchurch's Sorting Office was being threatened with closure. The staff were warned of the move but the Reading Office denied it. Now the proposal has emerged more definitely into the open.

This considerably dismays local residents as many businesses, as well as private individuals, rely on the proximity of this service within Whitchurch. The proposal is to base the sorting of the area's mail at the office in Priestley Road, Basingstoke. Therefore anyone wishing to claim a parcel which it had not been possible to deliver, would either have to drive the 26 mile round trip or to catch two buses and walk a considerable distance, carrying a parcel on the way back, at the cost of a £5.62 fare. There are many Whitchurch people who do not drive and the town is home to a fairly large business community including a mail order company, which located in Whitchurch last year mainly because of the convenience of the Sorting Office. The Post Office can arrange for parcels to be collected at the local post office by arrangement after the failure to deliver the parcel. However, most people think that this is not the way to run a business or even an efficient private life. Also - what a good thing we managed to save our post office - twice in the recent past!

I contacted Royal Mail's Chairman's Office and was informed that their Property Holdings are evaluating the property for the next five to six months. Obviously they hope to sell the property. Do they not know that this old building in a Conservation Area would be very hard to dispose of as a commercial property when we already have empty business properties in Whitchurch? Change of use to a dwelling would not be allowed in a Conservation Area.

Whitchurch's address is 'Whitchurch, Hants', not 'Whitchurch, Andover' or 'Whitchurch, Basingstoke' because the town, historically, is a post town.

To say that the people of Whitchurch are up in arms is to put it mildly."

To help in the campaign against this closure download and print the petition form in our Download Area, add your own name and collect as many others as possible and send to the address at the bottom. Then do it again!