Community / No plans to replace Burravoe post office in Yell as closure looms
CONCERN has been raised at the prospect of the Burravoe post office in Yell closing in the summer – with a local councillor saying the decision not to relocate it is “just another strangulation of remote communities”.
The current postmistress, who has run the service from her house in the south of Yell for many years, is retiring in July but the Post Office said it is not looking to replace the branch at this time.
There has been no public consultation either, with the Post Office saying it is following community engagement principles agreed in 2024.
These have seen the company instead review the service based on “current usage, modelling and availability of any suitable replacement or alternative service model”.
There is an interested party – Leslie Madden, who runs a small kiosk in the former Brough Stores building in Burravoe and is set to open a full shop there in the coming weeks.
However, he claims Post Office is saying it would cost him £10,000 to relocate the Burravoe postal service there because the existing equipment is out of date and would need replaced.
With the Ulsta post office closing a few years ago, there now stands to be no service in the south of Yell – with only Aywick and Cullivoe left on the island.
North Isles councillor Robert Thomson, who is from Yell, said he has been left disappointed by all aspects of the process and highlighted that the decision stands to disadvantage elderly people and folk with no transport.
“There’s been no consultation with the public in any way,” he said.
“These people have no idea where Burravoe or Yell is or where people are distributed around the isle, or how big an island Yell is – it’s about 20 miles long.”
Thomson said he stands ready to support Madden regarding the idea of taking over the service and said he is in contact with MP Alistair Carmichael and MSP Beatrice Wishart.
“Having it in a public space should be a far better commercial outcome for a post office,” he said. “If you’ve got a shop, it’s the centre of any community.”
Fellow North Isles councillor Ryan Thomson has also written to the Post Office CEO to express his concern, highlighting that travelling to alternative locations is not a viable option for everyone – given that some people do not drive or have access to transport.
He added that the post office “provides essential services like banking, paying bills, collecting pensions, posting parcels, and so much more”.
“For many, especially older residents and those without access to transport, it’s a lifeline,” Thomson said.
Madden also said there has been “no real public notice” around the closure, adding that he had only heard about it via the postmistress and was advised that no relocation was planned.
He took to the Facebook page for his Brough Store shop last week to rally support for keeping a post office in Burravoe, with folk commenting that it is a “vital service” for the community.
Speaking this week, Madden said “if they close this one at Burravoe that basically means there’s nothing anywhere on the bottom end of Yell for any of the older residents to go to”.
MP Carmichael said he has written to the Post Office to find out more.
“If there is already interest in someone else taking up the franchise locally – and I understand that there is – then for the Post Office to dismiss this out of hand without even a discussion seems entirely counterproductive,” he said.
“It veers perilously close to looking like bad faith from the Post Office with regard to their obligations to the community. A basic consultation really ought to be the bare minimum we should expect.”
In a statement a Post Office spokesperson said: “The postmistress for Burravoe has resigned and is looking to leave in July. We want to sincerely thank her for her long and loyal service to the community for 29 years.
“We have reviewed service provision in the area and we are not looking to replace this branch at this time. The nearest alternative branch is 5.4 miles away.”
When asked about the lack of public consultation, the spokesperson said the company is following the ‘Principles of Community Engagement’ agreed in June 2024.
It says: “Where the closure is unplanned, the service provision in the area will be reviewed based on current usage, modelling and availability of any suitable replacement or alternative service model.
“A commercial decision will be made if to actively seek to replace the closed service and will not be subject to public consultation.”
The Post Office spokesperson did not respond to the claims that it could cost more than £10,000 to transfer the service with new equipment.
They did confirm that the company’s Community Fund, which helped to secure the long-term future of branches which had become the “last shops” in their area, no longer exists.
This £20 million fund was designed to help branches diversify, and not to set up a new branch.
Since 2019/20, the Post Office has received £50 million a year in network subsidy from the UK Government to “help ensure that there are affordable post office services in rural areas” and “to support the delivery of both a minimum number of branches and strong geographical spread of branches in line with published access criteria”.
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