Post Office closure plans to hit Bexhill

Worried St Stephen's Ward leaders and residents gathered outside Windmill Drive sub post office on Wednesday morning.

Outlets at Sidley and Little Common are also at risk.

Pressed by the MP, the managing director of Post Office Ltd., Alan Cook, has admitted that Bexhill is at the forefront of the closure campaign.

Previous cuts have seen the loss of the Old Town and Pebsham sub post offices.

Like Bexhill's other sub post offices, the one at Windmill Drive is a key part of the local community.

The MP told the gathering: "I am afraid the reason that we are all here is very serious.

"I have been told by the managing director of the Post Office that, in line with the directive by the Government, they are now looking at closing a whole waves of post offices throughout the South East - and this comes on the back of the previous wave of post office closures.

"They are now looking to close a thousand more and I am afraid to say they are going to be starting in our area."

He said that, after difficulty, he had managed to extract confirmation from the managing director that a six-week fact-finding exercise locally was already under way - and had been launched by the Post Office on September 10.

The MP said there would be a public consultation process, but he added: "They are drawing up detailed plans.

"My message is that by the time they get to the so-called public consultation in November it will be too late."

Because of the high proportion of elderly people in the town, Bexhill would be particularly hard hit by any further loss of sub post office services, he said.

For many people in Bexhill its sub post offices were a life-line. "It is the lynch-pin of the local community."

For many elderly people , a local sub post office was just about as far as they could walk.

"We cannot afford to lose any more."

To those who would argue that closures were a fait accompli and that resistance was hopeless, the MP pointed to such campaign successes as the hotel scheme for the Metropole putting green and the saving of the town's direct rail link to London.

Ward Rother members Cllr Bridget George and Cllr Paul Lendon pledged their 100% per cent support for a town Save Our Post Offices campaign.

Cllr Lendon, the town's Mayor, said: "The sub post office is a major resource for elderly people here."

For mobile hairdresser Libby Powell said: "I run my own business. It is essential for me."

Brian Croft said the nearness of the sub post office was a major factor in living in the Windmill Drive area.

"The Government in their wisdom did away with the pensions system at post offices - even tv licences then say sub post offices are not viable - it's ridiculous."

Near neighbour Beryl Gebbie, who is now planning a protest petition, said: "We need the post office. We cannot afford to lose it.

"Some of them round here would not be able to get down to the town. There are only two buses a day from here to the town.

"Pensioners are encouraged to have bank accounts any more because they have only small amounts of money and the banks don't want to know. You cannot go to showrooms now to pay your gas or electricity bill.

The MP said a Save Our Post Offices movement would need to be a town-wide campaign because those at Sidley and Little Common were also at risk.

He hopes to hold a public meeting.