January 2019
The Post Office has announced a proposal to close its Farnham branch, and to transfer operations into WH Smith in The Borough. This is part of a national reorganisation of Post Office branches. The move is planned for June of this year.
The plan is to relocate into a dedicated open plan area towards the rear of the existing WH Smith shop. There will be three staffed serving positions, one of which will be of the traditional screened type, the other two will be open plan. In addition there will be two self service kiosks. Most of the facilites currently provided at the West Street branch will continue to be available, though the ATM will not be retained.
The office will be available for a period during the WH Smith Sunday opening hours.
It is not clear whether the planned new location will provide an adequate queueing area for customers within and outside the premises. West Street it is know for a queue to stretch through the doors and into the street.
A consultation ran until 6 March 2019.
The idea of moving the Post Office with its heavy footfall to the WH Smith location is not a good one, I would say it is even dangerous for the following reasons:
1. The pavement is narrow at this point in the Borough and in recent times I am aware of two pedestrian deaths within a matter of feet from this location.
2. It is certainly one of the most polluted places in Surrey, the air pollution is above legal limits.
3. Footfall will be removed from the Western end of the retail area which will have a detrimental impact on other businesses.
I actually believe that whoever makes the final decision to move the Post Office to the WH Smith location will eventually have blood on their hands when a customer going to or from the Post Office the premises is involved in a road traffic accident.
If the Farnham PO sorting office and yard are to remain, why not move WHSmith’s into the present West Street PO building to share the facility? That way, the pavement space would be adequate for both.
However, if the sorting office and yard are to go, then reluctantly I would suggest that WHS and the PO should both move into East Street.
David and I send or apologies for non attendance at the consultation on Tuesday.
W H Smiths in Farnham is not large enough to cater for their customers let alone putting in another shop /business. The post office is greatly needed and has been part of our life so please who ever is responsible for this decision please take the stand to stop our high streets disappearing as we do need a POST OFFICE in a easily accessible place.
For those customers with restricted mobility a move to Smith’s by the post office will present even greater difficulties in terms of access than the present location.
The nearest car park will be the central car-park and a trek through narrow unevenly paved alleyways and very narrow pavements.
When queues form as they inevitably will they are likely to spill out onto the Borough pavement restricting other pedestrians access. Customers will be forced to queue in the most polluted place in England to be served!
If the sorting part of the PO is being retained what is the advantage in moving the customer services ?
I support the proposal to move Post Office services to WH Smith from its current location in West Street. However, I very much appreciate the current convenience of my dog being permitted access into the Post Office when I am using its services and I would greatly appreciate continued convenience of access when services move to WH Smith .
We desperately need a fully functioning post office with its own premises. WH Smith are not large enough for busy periods to accommodate all the transactions and will lead to lengthy and dangerous queuing onto the pavement, exposing PO customers to traffic, fumes and drivers’ antagonism, and inhibit pedestrians, mothers with pushchairs and wheelchair users.
The queues in the PO at busy periods are time-consuming enough, in cramped surroundings like the WH Smith shop it will be impossible to move.
This is the most unsuitable and inconvenient site imaginable – narrow street, narrow pavements, car parks all necessitating crossing roads to reach it, and within the shop no doubt difficult to organise access and exit in busy times – Christmas?
Farnham is a growing town so the need for an adequate, properly functioning PO will also grow. Siting the office at the back of W.H.Smiths will not provide the necessary facilities at present let alone in the future. Moreover the proposed new site is in an area where any increase in pedestrian movements will be dangerous, and the air quality is probably the wirst in the town.
With the increased population in and around Farnham from all the new builds, it will be a loose, loose scenario for customers using PO services and W H Smith shoppers. In addition, there will be chaos on the narrow pavement outside at a very busy junction. It would be hard to find a more inappropriate location for a main PO that a town the size of Farnham requires.