Shropshire Star comment: Reduce impact of council 'shop' closures

Let's get out in to the communities we serve, they said, and open council "shops" where people can access council staff and some services on their doorsteps.

And it came to pass.

In these not so good days when it comes to council finance, they have had another good idea.

You know those council shops, they say. Nobody really uses them. So let's close them and save lots of money.

This is the world of local government, in which the Grand Old Duke of York would have felt very comfortable, marching up to the top of the hill and then down again as fashions, politics, and priorities change.

Shropshire Council's plans to close nine customer service centres at small towns across the county, and to cut the hours of its six main offices in bigger towns, are causing concern for Age UK.

It understands the need of the council to save money, but says that if these proposals go ahead it will be older people living in rural areas who are the hardest hit.

It is not helpful, it says, to suggest that people can be in contact by computers, when for some of the old, frail, and vulnerable people computers are not a communications tool, but an impenetrable language, and in any event they far prefer to speak to somebody face to face.

It is what they are used to, how they were brought up, and how they have lived their long lives.

Here we have one of the dilemmas of the modern age, seen in various different areas.

Banks in small communities are becoming extinct before our very eyes because fewer people have been using them, but for those who do they are a lifeline.

Village post offices have been closed wholesale, which does not affect those who never used them, but is a heavy blow for the loyal customers who are left with nowhere to go.

We are supposed to be trying to protect the environment, and yet we are at the same time creating a society in which people have no choice but to travel, which generally has to be done in polluting vehicles at an environmental cost.

While the council's stance is understandable given the state of local government finances, people matter as well as money.

So surely some consideration needs to be given to those people who are going to have their lives affected for the worse by these cuts.

The council could at least look at ways which will reduce the impact on them.