The Mayor
then called for the recorded vote substantive Notice of
Motion:
Voting in
Favour: M L Ayling, A Belben, T G Belben, N J Boxall, B J
Burgess,
R G
Burgess, C A Cheshire, R S Fiveash, F Guidera, I T Irvine, M G
Jones, P K Lamb, T Lunnon, S Malik, C J Mullins, D M Peck, A
Pendlington, M W Pickett,
C Portal
Castro, B J Quinn, T Rana, B A Smith, P C Smith, M A Stone, K
Sudan,
J Tarrant, G Thomas,
and L Willcock.
(28)
Voting
Against: None. (0)
Abstentions: R D Burrett, D Crow, C R Eade, R A
Lanzer. K L Jaggard and
K McCarthy. (6)
The Mayor declared the Notice of Motion as carried
– votes in favour 28, and no votes against with 6 votes of
abstentions.
RESOLVED
This Council notes with concern that:
- On 11
October 2018 it was announced that 74 crown post offices across the
UK, including Crawley’s crown post office, will be franchised
to WH Smith. Taken together, successive franchise announcements
mean the loss of 60% of the crown office network since
2013.
- These
privatisations are financed using millions of pounds of public
money, despite the fact that the public has never endorsed the
closures, indeed they have only ever protested against
them. Indeed, despite considerable
campaigning over recent years with huge local public support, many
nearby crown post offices have all closed despite the overwhelming
will of the public that they remain open.
- In
2014/15 alone, £13 million of public money was used to pay
compensation to get rid of post office staff, and the CWU estimates the staff compensation cost of the
latest privatisation will be at least £30 million, affecting
as it does, 800 staff.
- Reports
by Consumer Focus (2012) and Citizens Advice (2016) have identified
issues with the franchising of post offices to WH Smith including poor accessibility for people
with mobility impairments, longer queuing times, and inferior
service and advice on products.
- Franchising means the loss of jobs with good terms and
conditions at the Post Office. WH Smith
replaces experienced post office staff with new employees in
typically minimum wage part time roles. This is clearly bad for
jobs in Crawley and Post Office workers, many of whom are our local
residents.
- The
closure of our Crown post offices and relocation to a WH Smith, also means the loss of prime high street
stores and this contributes to the demise of our town centres. No
explanation has been given as to why the profit-making Crown post
offices such as Crawley’s are being handed to WH Smith.
- All Crown
post offices are under threat of closure and/or franchising in
future, if the latest round of privatisations are allowed to go
ahead, it could prove the tipping point for the viability of the
entire post office network.
This Council believes that:
- Our post
offices are a key asset for the community, and the expertise and
experience of staff there is invaluable.
- The
relentless franchising and closure programme of the profit-making
Crown post Offices, points to a lack of vision rather than the plan
for growth and innovation that is needed.
- Government should therefore halt these closures and bring
together stakeholders, including the CWU, and industry experts to develop a new strategy
that safeguards the future of the Post office.
This
Council resolves to:
- Ask the
Leader of the Council to write to Government to raise concern about
the apparent managed decline of the post office network and the
impact on high streets across the UK as well as the service in the
franchised premises, and the poor quality jobs that
result.
- Calls on
the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to scrutinise the issue and
(separately) the Leader of the Council to meet with WH Smith and the Post Office to urge a stop to the
planned franchise in Crawley.
- To join
local campaigning to raise awareness of the value of our Post
Office and the need for it to remain an asset of and for the
people.