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Post Office Closures (Clapham)

May I begin, Mr. Deputy Speaker, by asking you to convey my thanks to Mr. Speaker for having exercised in my favour that special discretion he has in the choice of Thursday evening Adjournment debates, and so secured this early debate? Although he has no choice but to be here, let me also express my thanks to my hon. Friend the Minister for his attendance at this debate. My hon. Friend, who is a decent man, has already responded to a large number of debates on post office restructuring and closure—I know that because I have read the reports of most of them—but I think I am right in saying that this is the first debate that has concerned just one post office and its future. I make no apology for that, because I believe that Abbeville Road post office is a special case. I think that in proposing its closure, Post Office Ltd has made a bad mistake: it has simply got it wrong. I am not alone in that judgment. I have here a petition signed by well over 2,000 local residents who are passionately keen to keep their local post office. I shall be sending the petition, and a copy of my speech, to Ms Anita Turner of Post Office Ltd as my submission to the London area consultation, which closes on 2 April, and I urge as many signatories as of the petition as possible to write to Mrs Turner without delay if they have not already done so. There is no doubt that the popularity and success of Abbeville Road post office are largely due to the character and commitment of its sub-postmaster and sub-postmistress, Shailesh and Smita Patel. Mr. and Mrs. Patel have run the post office in Abbeville road for 20 years, for the past 12 years at its present location, where they had the post office purpose-built in 1996. Over those 12 years, they have invested the very large sum of £200,000 to create a fully modernised post office. They are completely committed to the locality, and had hoped and expected to go on providing post office services for many more years to come. We can be entirely sure of one thing: the Patels are in this for the long term, which is more than can be guaranteed for the two alternative branches that are proposed to replace the Abbeville Road branch in the event of its closure. I shall say more about that later. Mr. and Mrs. Patel run a modern, clean, efficient and attractive store combining a newsagent-cum-convenience store with the post office. They offer a wide range of post office services. They provide the usual range of Benefits Agency payments: pensions, income support, child benefit and incapacity benefit. They also issue the London Transport freedom pass, change currency to euros on demand, provide an online lottery and cash debit cards. Their Link machine has an exceptionally large weekly turnover—of which Post Office Ltd will be aware—in response partly to the cash transactions at the local farmers' market and partly to the absence of a bank nearby. Indeed, local business people use the Post Office extensively for banking purposes. The store is easily accessible to wheelchairs and buggies via a ramp, and there is plenty of space inside. I emphasise that those services are provided all day from 9 am until 5.30 pm five days a week and from 9 am until 1 pm on Saturdays, and that they are provided from three counters. I hope my hon. Friend will also note that there are no lunch breaks, no Wednesday afternoon closing, and three, not two, post office counters—contrary to the so-called facts set out in the branch access report which purports to justify the closure. If Post Office Ltd is trying to make a case for closure, it might at least get its facts right. That does not inspire confidence. Like all good post offices, the Abbeville Road post office is a focal point for the community. We hear a great deal in debates such as this about the importance of the village post office in rural communities, but there should be absolutely no doubt about the vital community role of the urban post office in the often more impersonal and anonymous setting of the city. It is the universal view of local residents that Abbeville Road post office acts as the hub of the local community. As one resident has told me, it actually helps to give the locality a village feel. It is, of course, a lifeline of human contact for its many elderly customers. Mr. and Mrs. Patel even deliver groceries to the sick and infirm as part of their newspaper round. I hope that my hon. Friend the Minister takes from my description an impression of Abbeville road post office as a successful and thriving business, because that is just what it is. It is a model of what a post office should be. Mr. Patel tells me that Abbeville Road post office does 3,000 post office transactions a week, and he has shared with me the details of the income he receives from Post Office Ltd. I have no intention of disclosing that information, as I respect his privacy—after all, Mr. Patel is not a Member of Parliament. We have, however, learned from other debates about the broad level of turnover that is required to make a post office profitable, and I have no doubt whatever that Abbeville Road is a profitable post office; it is inconceivable that it could be otherwise. Moreover, Mr. Patel also tells me that his area manager has said to him for years that Abbeville Road is a commercial post office—in other words, a post office that makes a profit, or one of that 30 per cent. minority of profit-making, commercially viable post offices. I find it extraordinary that Post Office Ltd should in its search for a sustainable future be willing to close down a profitable post office. I also find it extraordinary that Post Office Ltd should as part of its London area plan be willing to close down a post office doing 3,000 transactions a week while elsewhere in the country keeping open rural post offices doing 13 transactions a week. I find it extraordinary, too, that Post Office Ltd is willing to close down a profit-making post office simply in order to meet its so-called access criteria. I also believe that even in the strict terms of meeting those criteria—deciding which post offices should close if disruption for customers is to be minimised—Post Office Ltd has got it wrong. We should remember that we are dealing with the disruption that is likely to be experienced by Abbeville Road's 2,000 to 3,000 weekly customers in the event of its closure. In its branch access report, Post Office Ltd identifies two alternative branches as the receiving branches in the event of Abbeville Road's closure: Clapham Park branch and Balham Hill branch. As I have said, there is a question mark over the future of both of those branches. Clapham Park branch will without the slightest element of doubt be demolished in due course as part of the huge and welcome regeneration of the Clapham Park estate. I have met its postmaster, Mr. Siva Balan, who tells me that that development is expected in four years' time and that he will be offered premises in a new shopping mall—incidentally, at a greater distance from Abbeville Road—but that he cannot be certain of his decision, which will clearly depend on several factors, not least the future proposed rent. I do not wish in the least to detract from the contribution that Mr. Balan and his post office and store make to the Clapham Park community; on the contrary, I welcome it. However, the simple truth is that it is a receiving post office whose future cannot be relied on 100 per cent. If that is a problem, the future of the other receiving branch—Balham Hill—appears to be far more precarious. In fact, it is currently on the market—it is up for sale. A short time ago it was closed. It had a makeover as a Costcutter, which I suspect has not succeeded in what is an extremely competitive retail environment. There is a large question mark over its future. I also very much doubt that Balham Hill has the capacity to take on more than double its current work load in the event of an Abbeville Road closure. I have visited the store. It is very small and quite cramped, there is very little space in which queues could form, it is unsuitable for wheelchairs and children's buggies, and it has only one operational counter. Moreover, there are no public transport links between Abbeville road and Balham hill, and there is no parking either. I would be worried about the journey on foot for the elderly, the infirm and people with children, which takes them across the very busy junction of the A24 with the south circular where there are no pedestrian crossing facilities. I honestly think this is an unrealistic and unreasonable offer to my constituents in the Abbeville road locality. I must draw my remarks to a close. I must say to my hon. Friend the Minister that I do not have a head-in-the-sand attitude towards the post office network change programme. I accept that the Post Office has lost millions of customers and is losing very large sums of money as customer habits change and traditional post office services become available elsewhere. Changes clearly need to be made if the post office network is to have a sustainable future and if there is to be a proper return for the taxpayer. That must include a reduction in the number of branches. Let me also say that I applaud our Labour Government's willingness to commit large levels of subsidy in support of the Post Office's community and social role—£2 billion since 1999 and a further £1.7 billion up to 2011. That is all in huge contrast with the total absence of subsidy under the previous Conservative Administration, and with the Lib Dems' plans to privatise the Royal Mail. However, in opposing the closure of Abbeville Road post office, I say this to my hon. Friend. For the long-term future of the Post Office, it makes no sense to close a profit-making branch or to disrupt the lives of 2,000 to 3,000 customers of Abbeville Road post office and send them off to other branches that either cannot cope, or which might not exist sooner or later down the line. I gather that experience so far suggests that up to 15 per cent. of the initial proposals can be changed as a result of the consultation process. In London, I hope that that will include Abbeville Road post office. It is a successful and much-cherished local institution and it deserves a future.