High-ranking duo trying to force U-turn

The face-to-face session involves Arun District Council's leader Cllr Gill Brown and chief executive Ian Sumnall.

They are meeting Post Office Ltd's south east network development manager Gary Herbert and Sally Hopkins, the external relations manager, to discuss concerns about the proposed five closures around Bognor and the one put forward for Littlehampton.

Arun regeneration officer Caroline Gosford said, in a report, the Bognor closures would rip the heart out of the existing network.

They are due to take place in May at Station Road, Hawthorn Road, South Bersted in Gordon Avenue, Aldwick in Aldwick Street and Craigweil in Barrack Lane.

She said: 'When consulting a map of central Bognor, it is clear that, if these proposed closures go ahead, there will be a large service vacuum in the middle of town.

'The post offices that will stay open are at the extremities of the town.

'The existing main post office is already oversubscribed, with regular queuing occurring.

'The proposed closures could potentially nearly double the weekly customer session throughput, which is clearly unmanageable based on the current facility.

'Post Office Ltd will be asked how they intend to address this issue.'

This would effectively rule out disabled people and those with mobility problems using the main branch.

Mrs Gosford said the resulting gap in the network encompassed two of Arun's most deprived wards '“ Orchard and Pevensey '“ with car ownership as low as one in three individuals. There was a high reliance on benefits and pensions.

Population change also needed to be taken into account, she stated.

A large number of migrant workers had moved into the town centre. They extensively used post offices.

In addition, the population of the Bognor area was expected to rise by 5,000 '“ some 3,400 at site six and through the St Modwen scheme and others '“ in the next decade.

The remaining post offices would clearly be unable to cope with this influx.

The Aldwick area would also see its number of post offices halved under the plans, she stated.

This would leave the mainly elderly population, with almost four out of ten people aged over 65, with potentially difficult journeys to the nearest alternatives.

Arun's cabinet of senior councillors will discuss the closure proposals at their meeting next Monday.