LABOUR councillors and activists campaigned outside a Post Office information event on Monday (February 18) in protest at a “sham” consultation on the postal service’s move away from its store on Broad Street.

The Post Office is set to move to WHSmith at Market Place but an ongoing consultation has been labelled a “con” after it emerged that the store had started looking for staff at the new site.

Labour councillor Andy Croy told The News: “You call it a consultation but the fact that WHSmith seems confident enough about the outcome of the consultation to start recruiting people in advance just shows what a sham it is.

“It’s not a proper consultation, it’s a con.”

The Wokingham Labour group stood with banners and boards outside the Wokingham Methodist Church, where a customer forum was held regarding the plans, from 4 pm - 7.30 pm on Monday.

More than 6,000 signatures from residents have been collected by the group for a petition which opposes the closure of the Broad Street service and its planned move to WHSmith.

A public consultation has been running since January 16 and is due to conclude on February 27.

The customer forum on Monday saw dozens of residents attend the event in order to ask Post Office representatives about any concerns they had with the proposals.

But a number of residents were told to come back later after three tables at the event were filled almost instantly.

Those who were forced to wait outside called the information event a “shambles”.

The News spoke to dismayed residents leaving the forum, with one claiming the move was “a disaster waiting to happen”.

Mr Anthony Clark said: “I’m just appalled. (At the current site) The staff are very helpful, it’s easy to park. To move from there to WHSmith… it’s difficult enough to buy a newspaper, it’s always busy, to think that the Post Office is going to be at the rear of the shop, compared with the current Post Office, I think it’s a disaster waiting to happen.

Another resident, Mrs Stone, told The News that the forum event failed to convince her.

She said: “I’ve had thoughts about this from the beginning - it seems absolutely crazy that given we’ve got a purpose built Post Office, which is working to the best of the facilities, it didn’t make any sense to transfer it to the premises of WHSmith, which is a pretty failing kind of store.

“We’ve been assured that there will be proper facilities. My gut feeling is that this is a done deal. I just feel it’s a real shame.”

Councillors clashed over how to deal with the Post Office’s planned move at a council meeting in November 2018.

Labour councillor Rachel Burgess had proposed a motion for the council to oppose the closure, but Liberal Democrats councillor Clive Jones submitted an amendment to the original motion.

The amendment outlined that the council would oppose the Post Office’s move unless it could provide guarantees on disabled access, jobs, and that existing services be retained, including the ability to collect missed parcels from the WHSmith store.

Speaking at the customer forum, Cllr Clive Jones told The News: “There was a guarantee that would be carried on from the Post Office which said that all postal services will be carried on in the WHSmith branch.

“You can do everything else you can currently do at the Post Office at the Post Office counters. The thing that they’re not guaranteeing, and is a real concern for me, is parcel collection. When we have a parcel delivered to us and we’re not in, we get a little red and white slip through the door saying ‘this is where you go to collect it’.

“Wokingham town centre WHSmith might not be on there - it might be somewhere in Bracknell or somewhere in Reading, and that’s not transferring all of the services as far as I am concerned.”

Fears were also raised about the accessibility of the WHSmith store, and one wheelchair user told The News they had serious doubts about how they would be able to use the services at the new site.

Liberal Democrats councillor Lindsay Ferris echoed these worries, telling The News: “We had a lot of discussion about the services and... they’d indicated that the services would be as what we have currently in the Post Office.

“On that perspective that might be okay, and I could see a Post Office working in WHSmith. But we also have concerns about the size of WHSmith, how you can get in there, how can people with a wheelchair or a buggy actually get into the site, what are WHSmith going to continue to sell?

“My view is why break it? Why change something that works? I don’t see why they need to. Yes I’m sure a Post Office would work in WHSmith but it’s not ideal and there’s concern about enough space, what going to happen to the staff… We still have quite a lot of questions to ask.”

Speaking about the consultation process, Cllr Ferris added: “The way the Post Office has spoken is that they have signed a contract with WHSmith for 74 sites and one of those sites is in Wokingham. It feels like it’s already been made, the move, and it’s very frustrating. They’re doing the consultation in the wrong order.”

The plans are part of nationwide proposals to move 74 Post Offices across the country into WHSmith stores.

The consultation continues until Wednesday, February 27 and should the plans go ahead, it is expected the Post Office would move into WHSmith by June 2019.

The Post Office was contacted for comment and in response, a spokesperson said: "Customers visiting yesterday’s customer forum on the proposed changes to Wokingham Post Office may have experienced a busy period when the forum first began, and we’re sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused. To avoid being left waiting, customers were offered consultation reading materials and reminded that the forum would be ongoing until 7:30pm and they were welcome to return at a later time should they wish to do so. We’re also very sorry if any customers had difficulty entering the venue – there were some building works ongoing outside the church and we apologise if this impacted access in any way.

“It is natural that people will have concerns about the proposed changes to Wokingham Post Office branch. That’s why we are seeking views from you, the local Wokingham community, to better understand areas such as accessibility, both inside and outside the branch, or wider local issues which should be taken into account. All of the feedback we collect will be carefully considered and will absolutely shape our final decision when it comes to the plans to move the branch.

“It is true that we are not consulting on principle of franchising a branch, as this is a commercial decision – and we believe it is the right one in order to sustain Post Office services in communities for the long term; however, that does not mean that any final decisions have been made.

“This is normal practice, and it is not the case that this pre-empts any final decisions about moving a branch. Once a branch goes into consultation, both Post Office and the potential new operator begin all the detailed planning for the move. This includes getting planning permission (which can take several months) and starting the recruitment process.

“Planning permission sought for any branch would only be actioned by the potential new operator if the proposal went ahead, and any recruitment is conditional upon the proposal being approved. The reason this detail planning is done at an early stage, ahead of a final decision, is that we know, should the decision to move the branch be made, it is much better for our staff and the community that the transfer proceeds without any unnecessary delays.”