Councillor 'deeply upset' after post office announcement

Westbourne Post Office in Seamoor Road has been named one of 115 directly-owned branches that are set to be axed.

This comes after the decision to boost postmaster pay by £250 million over five years.

The Westbourne post office is the only branch in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole included in the list.

(Image: Richard Crease)

Westbourne ward Cllr John Beesley was saddened by the news and said he and BCP Council were left in the dark about the announcement.

He said: “It’s quite irresponsible of the Post Office not to have any conversation nor consultation with those who are charged with communicating to local residents.

“I had to hear the news through reading the Echo article.

“When a bank closes in your ward, the bank contacts local representatives, particularly councillors, so that they know in advance and are opening a conversation.

“But in this case, the Post Office has deemed it not to be something they wanted to do and they haven't contacted us before, nor kept us up to date.

“I'm very upset about the closure and, of course, it's one of the cornerstones of what makes Westbourne so vibrant and so successful.

“And that vibrancy and success is something which we've always looked to the Post Office to provide – a service that is used all the time by residents, and I have no idea why they've decided to close it.

“It's very heavily used, particularly by elderly people who have no other form of doing their bank transactions or doing their post or doing a lot of things that the Post Office provides and it'll be very sorely missed.”

Residents also voiced their concerns at the rumoured closure.

One person said: “Such a shame as the Westbourne PO is a really efficient and friendly one with great staff.

“There are a lot of older people in the Westbourne area who rely upon it.”

Another person said: “Not good news at all. The staff are always super helpful and it’s generally busy most days so it would be good to know how to challenge this.”