HC Deb 07 January 2004 vol 416 cc379-80W
Jon Trickett

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what criteria are used by the Post Office to define a community for the purposes of the network reinvention scheme. [145916]

Mr. Timms

The development of closure proposals under the urban reinvention programme is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd.

The programme relates only to post office branches that are defined by Post Office Ltd. as 'urban'. I understand that the company classifies as urban any post office within a community of more than 10,000 inhabitants. The Post Office has carried out detailed planning to establish which of its branches should be classified as either rural or urban and has developed a geographical mapping computer model, which measures population in terms of contiguous or very close agglomeration. Thus where a number of villages or small communities adjoin each other or adjoin a larger town, and the aggregate population of the area exceeds 10,000, the model reflects that fact and classifies it as urban.

Jon Trickett

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which communities within the Hemsworth constituency are classified as urban, under the Post Office criteria. [145917]

Mr. Timms

I understand from Post Office Ltd that the following six post offices in the Hemsworth constituency are classified as urban, being located in communities of more than 10,000 residents:

  • Kettlethorpe
  • Moorthorpe, South Elmsall
  • Sandal
  • South Elmsall
  • South Kirkby
  • The Common, South Kirkby

Jon Trickett

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what data source she has recommended that the Post Office use to determine whether a community has more than 10,000 inhabitants. [145920]

Mr. Timms

The decision to classify a post office branch as urban or rural is an operational matter for Post Office Ltd. I understand that the company uses a sophisticated geographical mapping model called the Geographic Information System (GIS) in conjunction with a number of external and internal data sets including census data and Ordnance Survey data.

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