South Darenth Post Office

A lot of concerned residents have contacted me in the last week about the threatened closure of South Darenth Post Office on 15 November.

It appears that this has been brought on by a dispute between the managers of the Post Office and Post Office Limited over terms of payment. Post Office Limited appear to be seeking to impose a contract that the managers of the South Darenth Post Office, Hobbs Pharmacy, find unacceptable. I also understand that this reflects a general trend for Post Office Ltd to move towards so-called local contracts with postmasters.

I have been in close contact with our MP Michael Fallon's office; he has made representations to Post Office Ltd at national level. I have also spoken with Action with Communities in Rural Kent, who are experts in helping communities affected by closures or threatened closures of Post Offices. Through them I have also been in contact with the local/ regional arm of Post Office Ltd. What we are all seeking to do is to encourage Post Office Ltd to take a different approach to the contract offered to the managers of the South Darenth Post Office, which hopefully could enable it to stay open. If this fails, the next step would be to get Post Office Ltd to put alternative plans in place for the service to the village.