Submission against proposed Post Office closure of Southern Cross Post Office, Trafalgar Road, Portslade by Celia Barlow MP

• Southern Cross Post Office on Trafalgar Road, Portslade, lies in a densely populated residential area. The demographic of the area is predominantly lower-income and elderly.

• The Post Office regularly serves at least one thousand customers per week according to the owner Mr Patel.

• The Post Office is quite some distance from the nearest alternative on Boundary Road. Bus links in this part of Portslade are not as frequent as in other areas of Brighton & Hove.

• The Post Office is part of a larger general store, a kind of one-stop shop for many in the area. There is a very real danger of the general store losing much trade were Post Office services to be removed. Many people would find it more convenient to collect their groceries and supplies from a more distant store whilst visiting an alternative Post Office rather than shopping within their own locality.

• The Post Office on Trafalgar Road is one of very few retail outlets in the immediate area. The closure of such a facility could have an extreme negative impact on the conditions of local residents. There is a fear of increased vandalism, and a general decrease in the viability of the local community if the store was forced into closure as a result of Post Office services being removed from it.

• The Post Office proposed closure has aroused deep opposition within each respective community. I have received many letters asking me to do all I can to help keep this community facility open. Petitions I placed in the Post Office have collected hundreds of signatures from regular users and local traders concerned for the future viability of their communities and businesses.

• The South East England Development Agency is currently considering the regeneration of Shoreham Harbour, which lies close to Southern Cross Post Office. This development could see up to ten thousand new homes along with 7,750 new jobs, sustainable transport links and community, education and health facilities. This development would obviously give a significant increase to the local population.

Submission against proposed Post Office closure of Richardson Road Post Office, Richardson Road, Hove

• Richardson Road Post Office, Hove, has been proposed for closure under Post Office Ltd’s Network Change Programme.

• The Post Office serves around six hundred customers per week.

• Richardson Road Post Office lies within a traditional parade of shops in a small community street. Other outlets on the street include a traditional butcher, a baker, a café, a mini-market, a pharmacy, a barber shop, and a florist.

• All traders of Richardson Road have expressed deep anxiety about the effect the Post Office closure will have on their own trade. Many state that since a larger Post Office outlet on Richardson Road was closed some years ago, trade has dwindled. Many fear for their future livelihoods if Post Office services are completely eliminated from the street.

• All the traders on Richardson Road categorically state that the location of the Post Office produces extra trade for them. A particular acknowledgement has been that the many elderly customers of the Post Office find it convenient to pass from the Post Office, to the butcher, baker, and pharmacy for example. The owner of the Richardson Road Mini Market stated that in his opinion, all the shops of Richardson Road would be ‘gone within a year’ of the Post Office closure.

• Richardson Road is one of the very few streets in Hove with free car parking. This aspect of Richardson Road means its Post Office is easily accessible to vulnerable customers such as disabled and elderly people. The nearest alternative Post Office on Portland Road has no such ease of accessibility.

• The area surrounding Richardson Road has a huge population of elderly and infirm residents. Many have stated that it would be near impossible for them to either walk, or commute to the nearest alternative Post Office. To deny these people access to Post Office services would be to totally isolate many of them from daily contact with others.

• It would appear that Post Office Ltd’s research into the proposed Richardson Road Post Office closure has been flawed. In their proposals the company stated that there is a direct bus link from the area of Richardson Road Post Office, to the nearest alternative on Portland Road. As highlighted by Brighton & Hove City Councillors, and the local evening newspaper The Argus, this is not the case.· There are a number of planning developments within the area of Richardson Road Post Office currently under consideration. These include the Lawnscroft Nursing Home at 155 Kingsway which if successful will play host to many elderly residents. Also, at 50-52 New Church Road there a plans to build a three storey block of twenty five affordable flats. At 11 and 11a Sheridan Terrace there a plans to construct new office buildings.· The King Alfred development on Hove waterfront, in close proximity to Richardson Road, will contain not only a major sports facility, but 751 residential units. This will provide significant extra population to the area. 276 of these residential units will be affordable housing, providing homes to those on lower incomes.

This is the response Celia received from her letter to Post Offices Minister Pat McFadden MP: