Post Office reveals first Scots closures

The move - the first round of closures to affect Scotland under the controversial restructuring plan ordered by the government - is set to lead to post offices shutting in some of the most deprived constituencies, angering MPs, MSPs and campaigners.

Post Office Ltd is announcing the closures in a staged process by area. A list of branches facing the chop in Glasgow, central Scotland and Argyll is published today.

Significantly, the cuts are deeper than many had expected and have raised fears that the number of offices in other areas, including Lothian, the Borders, Fife and Perthshire, will be greater than anticipated.

While it was widely expected that rural post offices with few customers would be threatened, MPs were shocked to discover that 24 in the Glasgow area would shut.

Rural areas of Scotland in the west and Central Belt appear to have been spared the worst of the cutbacks, following vociferous campaigns.

Argyll and Bute has only seven post offices closing. Stirling and Falkirk also appeared to be largely unscathed. Instead, the axe is falling on Glasgow.

MPs believe that, rather than only basing the decisions on customer numbers, the company has decided to "pick and choose" which post offices survive based on the types of business each generates - and privately they admit that poor areas or ones where there is less community cohesion seem to have been singled out.

Those suspicions are underscored by a report from the National Consumer Council last month, which found that people living in housing estates were some of those worst hit.

The report found that people most reliant on post offices, such as the elderly and unemployed, were the least likely or able to lobby for them to stay open.

Across the UK, 2,500 post offices out of the 14,000-strong network are earmarked for closure after Post Office Ltd revealed the network had lost four million customers in two years. In England, the first 180 at-risk post offices were identified last month, although the number is expected to be one in five by May 2009.

Announcements on other parts of Scotland are expected between January and April next year.

Communities affected by the first raft of closures in the west have six weeks to raise objections while Post Office Ltd carries out a consultation process.

Mohammed Sarwar, the MP for Glasgow Central, claimed the closures in his area would impact on the many benefit claimants. "It is devastating for many of my constituents. We were not really expecting any closures in urban areas. The post offices which are affected happen to be in the most deprived areas of my constituency," he said.

Anne McKechin, the MP for Glasgow North, said she was stunned to discover half of the post offices in her constituency would close. "We were told to expect 20-24 per cent, but this is 50 per cent."

John Robertson, the MP for Glasgow North West, called on Post Office Ltd - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Royal Mail Group that is owned by the government - to think again about the closures. "The worst hit are the areas where there is a high take-up of benefits which are usually collected from local post offices," Mr Robertson said.

He also pointed out that the latest adverts from Post Office Ltd showed the company trying to reposition itself as a bank, a more profitable enterprise than the core functions of traditional post offices. Like other MPs, he thinks the decisions are being made on the basis of where the most profitable businesses are, rather than just the numbers.

But Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem MP for East Dunbartonshire, said Labour MPs should point the finger at their own government for the network's decline. "It is the height of cynicism to suddenly realise how important the post office is to their community when it is threatened with closure," she said.

Malcolm Bruce, the Lib Dem MP for Gordon, said suburban areas could also be hit hard in future announcements.

A spokesman for Post Office Ltd said: "[The report] will show that almost 90 per cent of the total area's population will see no change at all to their nearest branch and 99.9 per cent of the population will either see no change to their nearest branch, or will remain within one mile (by road distance) of an alternative branch."

• Postal workers' leaders yesterday ratified a deal aimed at ending the mail dispute which has disrupted deliveries.

WHERE THE AXE WILL FALL

• GLASGOW AREA

Auchenback

Bowling

Greenbank

Anderston

Govanhill

High Street

Springfield Road

Sandymount

Gilshochill

Hyndland

Kelvindale

West End

Balornock

Forge Street

Red Road

Crow Road

Drumchapel

Kingsbridge

Temple

Carmunnock

Croftfoot

Radnor Park, Clydebank

Muirend

Nithsdale Road

• HELENSBURGH

East Princes Street

• ALEXANDRIA

Levenvale

• ROTHESAY

Gallowgate

• CAMPBELTOWN

High Street

Ralston Road

• DUNOON

Hillfoot Street

Kirn

• OBAN

Mossfield

• DUMBARTON

Brucehill

Newtown

• BONNYBRIDGE

Greenhill

Highland Dykes

• STIRLING AREA

Cultenhove

Forth Crescent

East End, Callander

• FALKIRK AREA

Bothkennar

Brightons

Thornhill Road

• LARBERT

Church Street

• DENNY

Nethermains