Victory!
Kennington Park Post Office Saved from Closure!
Local residents were active in the campaign to save our Post Office from closure – and we’ve won!! Well done, everyone!!
The Post Office sent the following letter confirming their decision on 4 April.
Dear Customer
Kennington Park Crown Post Office® branch
410 Kennington Road, London, SE11 4QA
I’m writing to confirm that we will not be proceeding with our proposal to merge Kennington Park Crown Post Office branch into Walworth Road Crown Post Office at 234 Walworth Road, London, SE17 1JD.
We have decided to retain Kennington Park branch at its current location, where it will continue to offer customers the same great customer service and range of products and services. Moving forward, Kennington Park and Walworth Road customers will see investment made in their branches as part of our modernisation and growth plans, and our strategy for 2020.
Public consultation responses
We received a number of comments from customers and local representatives during the recent 12 week local public consultation period. We also attended several meetings with members of Lambeth Council, and with Kate Hoey MP, to discuss any suggestions or concerns. We also received two petitions opposing our proposal for Kennington Park Post Office, totalling over 2,000 signatures.
As part of the consultation process, Post Office Ltd met with Consumer Futures, the statutory consumer watchdog for the Post Office network, to review all the consultation responses and to ensure all relevant feedback is taken into account in finalising our plans.
During consultation we also continued to pursue and assess possible viable alternatives to the proposal, both internally and with stakeholders including Lambeth Council and their partners.
In addition to the public consultation, we held a customer forum on 13 February 2014 where Post Office representatives were available to talk to customers about our proposal and answer questions.
Feedback on our proposal
All the feedback we received helped us better understand customer views and this feedback was taken into account when making a decision.
Some of the feedback focussed on the distance and journey to Walworth and access to the branch, particularly in respect to public transport links and parking provision at Walworth Road. There were comments about the impact this would have on the current users of Kennington Park, including elderly and disabled users. There were also some concerns about the impact on queues at the Walworth Road branch as more customers used it following the change.
A number of local small businesses commented on the impact of the proposal on their ability to access mails services, particularly in respect to the time and difficulty of taking multiple mails items to Walworth Road.
Others commented on nearby Stockwell branch, which has also been the subject of a local public consultation proposal to merge into Ferndale Road, and the combined impact of both proposals on customers and users. Consultation on Stockwell branch closed on 2 April 2014 and we’re currently reviewing all feedback on this proposal before making our final decision
Our decision
We are grateful for all the feedback we received throughout the public consultation process and have listened carefully to any concerns raised. I am pleased to confirm that we will be retaining Kennington Park branch. Further to this, we are also considering using the branch as a testing ground for new innovations for our products and services.
You can find a copy of this letter on our website at postofficeviews.co.uk. When entering the website you will be asked to enter the code for this branch: 016007.