Martin Tod

We’re all stunned by the great results of the elections last Thursday:

• More votes and more seats in the Winchester District and the new Winchester constituency than the Tories
• Highest Lib Dem share of the vote in Winchester district or county elections since 1998 
• Swing from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats for the second year running

We knew that our campaign for a greener, fairer and safer Winchester was getting a strong response - and that people were reacting well to the strong record of our candidates - but getting the highest vote for 10 years was more than we expected!

The picture in the new Winchester Constituency was even better: 49% of the vote, vs only 43% for the Conservatives, and 12 out of 17 seats.  Unfortunately we missed winning Hiltingbury West by only 20 votes or it would have been 13 out of 17 seats.

Even if you include the latest results from the wards which weren’t up this year (which are all Conservative), we still beat the Tories by 48% to 44%.

Overall, a very encouraging night.  And a big thank you owed to all the people who worked so incredibly hard and, most of all, to all the people who voted for us on Thursday.

Post-note: I’ve just checked the County Results.  Our results outperformed those as well - so I’ve updated the post accordingly.

As most local people now know, the replacement post office for Fryern Hill didn’t reopen in January as originally promised.

Apparently, the original negotiations for a replacement site fell through.

I’ve been told that the post office have a new site in negotiation. The estimated timing is now March.

We’ve just launched a website (http://www.saveourbuses.org.uk) and a petition against the proposed cuts to the Red Rocket bus service in Chandler’s Ford and Hiltingbury.

In essence, almost no Blue Line buses will go north of Fryern Hill or west of Winchester Road.

I was out on Tuesday collecting signatures at Fryern Hill, Ashdown Road and Sutherlands Court and it’s clear that these cuts are going to hit many residents very badly. For pensioners in particular, the combination of the cuts to the Red Rocket bus services and the loss of the Chandler’s Ford post office are a double whammy.

You can sign the petition here and join the Facebook group here.

Well now we know…

After all the effort people made across Hampshire to argue for their local post offices, almost nothing has changed. Only one Post Office (Goodworth Clatford, near Andover) managed to get a reprieve. A branch in Whitbury which had been planned for outreach is being closed instead.

Here in the new Winchester constituency, all the efforts by local people have had some effect: the Littleton Post Office has managed to get a three month stay of execution until April 9th, 2008 to discuss whether some form of local funding could be arranged in order to keep the post office open. The Chandler’s Ford post office is being kept open until a replacement for the Fryern Hill post office has been found. The decision to replace Micheldever with an outreach service has gone to Postwatch for further discussion: we should see a plan shortly. Shawford will be closing within the next four weeks.

The fundamental issue remains the central Government decision to cut the national number of post offices by 2,500. As local people repeatedly made clear in their letters and submissions, these closures will have a serious impact on the elderly and vulnerable groups. It is very disappointing that all the input given by local people has had such a relatively small impact.

Full details of the closure decisions, as published on the Post Office website, are as follows:

Post Office® Chandler’s Ford branch

Respondents’ main concerns related to the impact of any change on the local community, particularly elderly people; the distance to alternative branches; the fact that the nearestalternative branch at Fryern Hill is currently closed, and proposals for future development in the area.
A review confirmed that there are two alternative branches within a mile of Chandlers Ford, the nearest alternative branch being Fryern Hill, which is temporarily closed – a situation that would be resolved before any closure of Chandlers Ford branch was undertaken. The second is Velmore.
While new developments are planned for the area, we still do not consider it feasible that three Post Office branches could be operated in a viable and therefore, sustainable way in the future.
Taking these and all other relevant factors into account, our decision is to proceed with the closure of Post Office® Chandlers Ford branch. No such closure will take place until a new Fryern Hill branch is in place.

Post Office® Littleton branch

During the local public consultation, the main comments received in respect of this branch related to vulnerable customer groups, the availability of parking at alternative branches and the ability of those branches to absorb additional customers. A proposal was also received from the local community regarding local funding for a service offering in the area.
We have carried out a further check on parking and can confirm that parking is available at both alternative branches. Service provision at those branches will also be revised where necessary.
Having considered this and all other relevant factors, Post Office Ltd has decided to confirm the closure of this branch. However, our view is that the proposal for local funding was sufficiently cogent that it is worth investigating further whether it may provide a viable basis for the provision of some form of local service in the area. Post Office Ltd will now consider further the proposal to assess its viability. In the meantime, to reduce disruption should a new locally funded service be established, Post Office Ltd has decided to delay the implementation of the closure of this branch by three months to 9th April 2008.

Post Office® Shawford branch

A relatively small amount of correspondence was received during the local public consultation period in relation to this branch.
A review has, nevertheless, been conducted and has confirmed, amongst other things, that customer levels at this branch are very low. Taking all relevant factors into consideration our final decision is to proceed with the closure of Post Office® Shawford branch.

Micheldever submitted for further review by Postwatch

Postwatch is working with Post Office Ltd and local communities throughout the programme to help secure the best possible outcome for customers.
Postwatch and Post Office Ltd have agreed a Memorandum of Understanding, which sets out in detail the role Postwatch will play in the Programme. Where Postwatch thinks Post Office Ltd’s proposals are unsatisfactory, it will work with local communities and Post Office Ltd to address these problems.
Where Postwatch can show, in respect of an individual branch, Post Office Ltd has not given due consideration to material evidence received during the public consultation in coming to its decision or where evidence emerges from the consultation that the proposal for that branch does not meet the Government’s policy requirements, there is an agreed review mechanism between Postwatch and Post Office Ltd. It is important to note that Postwatch does not have a power of veto on Post Office Ltd’s decisions.
We have made a decision in principle to proceed with the remaining eight Outreach proposals subject to final agreement with Postwatch. Post Office Ltd is now working on finalising the details of the specific solution that replaces each branch; this information will be published shortly.

• Post Office® East Meon branch, East Meon Stores, High Street, East Meon, Petersfield, GU32 1NW
• Post Office® East Tisted branch, Station Road, East Tisted, Alton, GU34 3QP
• Post Office® Froxfield branch, 13 Dellfield, Froxfield, Petersfield, GU32 1EH
• Post Office® Lockerley branch, Lockerley Green, Romsey, SO51 0JN
• Post Office® Micheldever branch, Church Street, Micheldever, Winchester, SO21 3DB
• Post Office® St Mary Bourne branch, Bourne Meadow, St Mary Bourne, Andover, SP11 6BE
• Post Office® West Tytherley branch, West Tytherley, Salisbury, SP5 1NF
• Post Office® West Meon branch, High Street, West Meon, Petersfield, GU32 1LJ

The final deadline for submitting responses to the Post Office Closure programme consultation for Hampshire & the Isle of Wight finished on Monday - with detailed responses submitted by ourselves and others for most of the post offices in the local area.

However, all this detailed work mustn’t let us lose sight of the fact that ultimately these closures stem from a Government decision backed by Gordon Brown. The Government decided to close these 2,500 post offices. Post Office Management are just administering a government decision. That’s why I was in Downing Street today with Chris Huhne MP, Sandra Gidley MP and Councillor Kelsie Learney presenting the petitions we collected opposing the closure.

Post Offices are a vital lifeline in our area (and most other areas), especially for pensioners and people who don’t have easy access to transport. In rural areas they are often the last shop in the village.

The Fryern Hill Post Office in Chandler’s Ford will close at 1 p.m. today.

The Sub-Postmaster resigned last Tuesday. The Post Office put in a temporary sub-postmaster - but the current premises are being withdrawn from 1 p.m. today Wednesday.

This is all a big surprise to everyone and incredibly short notice. I spoke to post office management as soon as I heard and they say this is only a temporary closure. They have a plan for a replacement by January. I asked, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to be possible to get a temporary post office in the meantime - for example in the Waitrose car park (although I’ve spoken to Eastleigh Borough Council to see what they might be able to do to help). In the meantime the Post Office are suggesting people go to nearby post offices such as the one in Bournemouth Road instead.

The irony is that the post office are trying to close Bournemouth Road. What would they have done if this had happened a few months later?

We’ve now got the list of Post Offices for closure in the new Winchester & Chandler’s Ford constituency.

The Post Offices proposed for closure are:

• Littleton
• Shawford
• Bournemouth Road, Chandler’s Ford

In addition, Micheldever has been proposed for closure and replacement by an ‘outreach service‘ with local people being consulted on which kind of outreach they want.

People opposed to the closures - or who want to have their say on which method of outreach they prefer - can write to:

Tim Nickolls
Network Development Manager
C/o National Consultation Team
FREEPOST CONSULTATION TEAM

or email consultation@postoffice.co.uk.

The more detailed the argument against the Post Office’s analysis behind their proposal, the better.

We are going to be campaigning very hard against these closures in the affected areas. To be successful, we need to make a strong case for each post office about how seriously closure will affect the local community - and, in particular, highlight any mistakes in their assumptions. The most important thing that people can do is write to the Post Office and clearly explain how the loss of the post office is going to affect them - particularly if people are dependent on public transport and there are issues in accessing alternative sites.

The real problem here is the Government. They’re the ones who are forcing the Post Office to close 2,500 post offices. And while it’s true that many people prefer accessing post office services via the internet or other shops, the problem is the impact on the elderly and those who find it hard to access any alternatives.

Rather than having the Government take business away from the post office, there’s a clear opportunity for both the Government and local Councils to use local post offices as local points of contact - putting more business through post offices to help sustain the network.

It’s been an inspirational couple of days meeting the Christian Aid “Cut the Carbon” marchers as they moved through the Winchester constituency from Chandlers’ Ford to Alresford on the last lap of their walk to London.

The march started in Bangor in Northern Ireland in July and has been through Edinburgh, Newcastle, Leeds, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bournemouth. By the time they reached Chandler’s Ford, some of the walkers had already walked more than 900 miles to build awareness of climate change.

I was invited by Haulwen Broadhurst to a dinner to welcome them at Chandler’s Ford Methodist church - which was a brilliant evening. We ate well (but simply) - Martin John Nicholls (see right) provided inspiring entertainment - two marchers spoke about their personal experience - including one of the marchers who gave personal testimony about the effect of climate change in Burkina Faso. (The marchers are balanced between people from the developed world and the developing world).

I was so inspired that I asked a colleague - Jackie Porter - to come and join me in welcoming them when they arrived at St Gregory’s in Alresford. After their arrival, we got talking to two of the marchers - Geoff and Kate Davies who were marchers from the South African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute - about the work they are doing to bring together faith communities to work on the environment and social justice in South Africa - and ended up being invited to come to dinner again to continue the conversation. Once again, it was an inspirational evening. This time we heard from a speaker from Brazil about the impact of climate change in her country – and were reminded by a marcher from Britain about our responsibilities for these global problems in the west and the actions we need to be taking.

It was good to be reminded that the biggest cause of problems for the developing world is often our carbon emissions in the industrialised world, not those in developing countries - and that, although climate change is mostly hurting the world’s poor, the rich world is mostly to blame.

One of the purposes of the march is to get politicians and MPs to sign up to 80% carbon reductions by 2050 - vs the current target of 60% - and to require companies to account for their carbon emissions.

Since we’d passed policy in Brighton a few days supporting (indeed, in the case of carbon - where we want 100% reductions, exceeding) these goals - I was absolutely happy to sign up. I also promised to get people to back their campaign - so please go to their website and sign up to support their campaign if you can.

Some good news from Chandler’s Ford. After a strong campaign run with local Lib Dems, Haulwen Broadhurst and Grahame Smith, Lib Dem-run Eastleigh Borough Council has stepped in and saved the C service in Chandler’s Ford after its funding was cut by Hampshire County Council.

The Winchester Lib Dem team has been campaigning hard with local people to reverse the Conservatives’ cuts to local bus services in the rest of the new Winchester constituency. Hundreds of people across Winchester have already signed our petitions to reverse the cuts in the 1, 5, 6 and 6a services.

These cuts affect the elderly and immobile hardest – particularly the cut in the 6a to Abbotts Barton.

At a time when we need to be tackling climate change, we also need to be making it easier to use bus services, not harder.

We’ve seen that the Liberal Democrats running Eastleigh Borough Council have true commitment to public transport. Will the Conservatives running Winchester City Council be prepared to step in and save our local services here in the same way?

Do Winchester’s Conservatives actually have any commitment to the environment or have they just been making empty promises about the environment to try and win votes.

If you’d like to back the campaign or print out a petition form, you can do so at:

http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/supportservice1
http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/supportservice5
http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/supportservice6
http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/supportservice6a