Balintore is a coastal village some 595 miles away from London and 7 miles away from my home town of Tain in the Highlands. It has no bank, a fair number of elderly residents, and a bus service that is, to say the least, infrequent.
So when the people of Balintore and the neighbouring Seaboard villages of Shandwick and Hilton heard that the local Spar shop would no longer provide a Post Office service, they were downcast. There didn’t seem to be any way to avoid its complete disappearance.
Step forward, one Maureen Ross. Maureen, a Seaboard villages local, has long been a dynamo of community work. True to form, she did not disappoint. Maureen dared to ask, couldn’t the Post Office be part of the local community hall, the Seaboard Memorial Hall? It is already much used by the community and is also a provider of excellent meals and coffee.
Maureen approached the Post Office bosses with this innovative proposal. Fast forward to today: we have a successful local Balintore Post Office, open 5 mornings a week. Pensions are collected, bills paid, and cash withdrawn. It’s a place where older folk can go about their day-to-day business and stop to have a cuppa and a chinwag.
Maureen Ross protected a fundamental pillar of this community. It is no surprise to me that she was elected as a Highland councillor only a few weeks ago. She is someone who recognises the fact that a network of local post offices is integral to the social fabric of our nation, particularly in some of the most remote areas like in my constituency.
That, folks, was a success story. Now we must turn our attention to a new threat facing our Post Offices.
On the North Coast of Sutherland, Melvich and Bettyhill Post Offices are worried about their viability. Until now, Royal Mail has paid each of these Post Offices to have a parcel and letter sorting facility at the back of their shops – technically termed a Scale Payment Delivery Office (SPDO). This is where posties go to sort the mail, use the toilet facilities, and have a sit down at lunchtime.
I’ve been told that these contracts are due to end next January, leaving these shops without the funding for an SPDO. In the case of Bettyhill, it means that posties will have to meet in a public car park to sort the mail and swap parcels between vans. An unpleasant prospect considering the recent storms and the cold winter to come.
When nature calls, our posties have been told to use public toilets, most of which in the Highlands are closed during the winter months.
And what happens if Mrs Mackay isn’t at home to receive her parcel? That parcel won’t go back to the local Post Office for her to pick up or for the local postie to re-deliver, but all the way to Thurso – a good 30 miles from Bettyhill and 17 from Melvich, far beyond the usual Access Criteria set by the Post Office which says that those living in rural areas should live within 3 miles of their local branch. That is no good to Mrs Mackay, who may not drive and certainly can’t rely on public transport.
It also means that shopkeepers lose a vital income stream that keeps their shops open. Bettyhill Post Office, for example, will lose almost £7,500 for the year. It could mean not just further Post Office closures, but shop closures too. Pillars of rural communities, demolished by cost-cutting tactics. It is the weary drumbeat we in the Highlands have heard for years and years.
The Government has a responsibility to remote communities. It is of course for Royal Mail and the Post Office to work together on, but it is crucial that the Government pays attention to this situation and intervene before the consequences manifest themselves.
Shopkeepers, posties, and consumers will all suffer as a result of these contracts being terminated. This is why I felt the urgency to lead a debate on the sustainability of rural postal services and why I welcomed an audience with the Government this week.
The Government has a responsibility to remote communities – it must protect rural post offices and services, says Jamie Stone MP
