Consultation the Post Office in Evington
Following a public consultation (2nd May – 13th June 2024,) organised by the Post Office’s National Consultation Manager, the decision is that the Post Office currently in Evington Village (inside J&A Pharmacy) will move to 49 Welland Vale Road LE56PX (inside Glentons Chemists.)
To view the Post Office plans, please visit their Consultation Hub via this link: Consultation Hub – Evington LE5 6DN
Customer information materials will also be available in the branch.
The consultation about closing The Evington village post office appears somewhat superficial. The published decision fails to provide any detail about the consultation, i.e. how many objections there were etc. I have raised a FOI request for this information which I suspect will be denied on the grounds commercial confidentiality.
Dear Mr. McFadyen,
Thank you for writing to me. Richard Kent emailed me the reply from the post office that I enclose here.
Post Office
Dear Sir/Madam,
We have finalised our plans for the above Post Office.
To view our plans, please visit our Consultation Hub via the link below:
Consultation Hub – Evington LE5 6DN
It would be helpful if you could share this link through your social media channels and with any local groups or organisations within the community to help our customers and your constituents understand what is happening.
Customer information materials will also be available in branch.
Yours sincerely
Audra Mirjah-Clarke
National Consultation Manager
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I think I will need to forward to you so the link works.
In the next Evington Echo I have explained that the petition with over 1,000 signatories was to keep a Post Office in Evington Village. The petition to move it to Downing Drive had over 400 signatories. J & A Pharmacy, which had the Post Office in the village was rented whereas Glentons on Downing Drive is owned. J & A Pharmacy has been looking like it has been wasting space for a long time, then it closed on Saturdays. I suspect this has been planned for a long time. However all the staff from J & A and the Post Office are moving to Glentons and seem quite happy about this, although they do admit it is a pity for these facilities to leave Evington Village. I know shopkeepers have been complaining about the cost of hiring premises to run their shops on High Streets. There is lots on the net about revitalising High Streets and Friends of Evington have joined the Heritage Trust Network where there is more information. But it is time to do all these things!
You are right, there isn’t much detail about the consultation. Why have one at all if they ignore the results? Thank you for writing to me.
Best wishes,
Helen Pettman
On reflection this consultation, like the consultation about closing our GP surgery at The Common, may well breach the principles of fair consultation i.e.-
That a public body must conduct the consultation process fairly. In assessing fairness, the courts have identified four main principles of fair consultation, commonly referred to as the ‘Gunning principles’:
consultation must take place when the proposal is still at a formative stage;
sufficient reasons must be put forward for the proposal to allow for intelligent consideration and response;
adequate time must be given for consideration and response; and
the results of consultation must be conscientiously taken into account.
This last requirement seems indeed to have been breached and may well be able to be challenged through a Judicial Review.