Update on East Hagbourne Post Office campaign

Thanks to the efforts of everyone who backed the local campaign to save East Hagbourne Post Office - there is hope - but the fight isn’t over yet.

I wrote to the Post Office Minister back in March to raise the impact of the decision not to recruit a new sub-postmaster. I have received confirmation from the Minister that there is some movement, but not a viable solution yet.

In his letter to me today the Minister has confirmed that "Post Office Limited has now decided to advertise the opportunity to operate the East Hagbourne branch."

Unfortunately this appear to only be offering a franchise model that is not viable for the East Hagbourne Community Shop. The so-called ‘Local Model’ that is offered by Post Office Limited means that the Community Shop would have to take on up to 75% of the staffing costs for the Post Office - which as a non-profit organisation simply doesn’t stack up. Under the previous ‘Community Model’ the bulk of the costs was covered by a Government grant.

So whilst I believe this latest announcement from the Minister is at least a chink in the armour and an opportunity to seek to negotiate further with Post Office Limited, the fight is certainly not over yet.

I have today written back to the Minister, highlighting the concerns about the operating model and asking him to intervene once again with the Post Office.