An Island town council could take on a Post Office to save the service from being cut off.
The idea is being proposed in Sandown following the announcement the branch on Avenue Road would close on 10th March.
It had been housed in the Central Convenience Store but after the store’s closure in October, the future of the Post Office provision has been in doubt.
Councillor Debbie Andre is asking Sandown Town Council (STC) to agree to take on the Post Office franchise to keep providing vital services for the town.
She said many Sandown residents rely on Post Office services to stay in touch with friends and family, and since losing all of the high street banks, has become a vital provider of some banking services.
Councillor Andre said she has approached several Sandown businesses but they were unable to take it on, so the best option was for STC to take on the franchise, as other councils across the country have done.
She said:
“It’s about listening to residents, taking action and using the resources at our disposal in the best possible way for the benefit of those we serve.”
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The franchise is currently being marketed by the Post Office, until May, and commission rates of between £31,050 and £34,500 a year.
If the motion is approved, the viability of running such a service will be checked and a business case produced. The town council would have to run all the products and services currently provided at the Post Office, it could not pick some.
The item will be considered at STC’s meeting on Monday, 6th February, and it would have to be determined where the Post Office could be moved to, how will people get to it and what the proposed trading hours are. Funding would have to be set aside in the council’s budget.
Other community Post Offices on the Island, in Godshill, Brading, Wootton and Totland, are run by Community Action but due to ongoing legal action, the group is unable to take on another.
Erm no – unless all sandown residents agree, who are actually paying the council tax, as they will ultimately be paying for this largesse by the council.
premises costs – salaries, taxes, pensions, etc – if it wasn’t working before, it most certainly will not work being run by councillors
The biggest and most obvious problem here is that the Post Office require work to be done (not virtual work, two hours spread across the day ‘working from home’) and there are targets to be met.
This would not be an open cheque book scenario of fleecing the public and raising precepts to top up the bottomless public funded cheque account.
So with that in mind how the hell could councillors grasp the very basics of what they are proposing here.
the Post Office is a real business, not Public Service rubbish.
You are spot on. The Post Office Limited are the problem , they do not pay a realistic scale of fees , so many of the local branches are not viable. The company is Government owned and they should make sure they fund the service adequately . It certainly should not fall to Local Councils to subsidise the Company, the solution is directly in the remit of the Government.
Yet another failing of Government, they need to get a grip.
Likely they have allowed in so many ‘newcomers’ down and outs, druggies, alcoholics, and care in the community odd balls, none of whom work they need somewhere to refund their benefits.
Close it for the Council should not be allowed to run run down dead end crime ridden area risky ventures such as this.
Our Council precept will be astronomical if a useless, well meaning but hapless council run such.
Stick to what you OUGHT to be doing placing a few hanging baskets, and organising toilet cleaning.
Like other businesses which have turned it down, Sandown council have not got money to lose.
But councillors seem to think it has.
This is another example of a parish council poking its nose into the commercial world where they are neither qualified or have the ability, we will look at the business case, who will, you will either have to get in expensive specialised consultants or get the accountant at the IOW council to look at it,because as sure as eggs or eggs the councillors do not have the ability, either way the council should stay clear and stop trying to put the rsidents below the bread line.
Yes, Sandown needs a Post Office but will the residents be picking up any additional costs in their Council Tax? Stealth Post Office fees?????