Oban Passport Office one of 10 to close

The UK Government is to close 10 Passport Interview Offices, including the only one in Argyll – in Oban. The office in Stirling is also to close, leaving the population of the second largest landmass in Scotland – Argyll and the Isles – with a choice of going to Inverness or Glasgow.

Northen Ireland is to retain its four offices.

While the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) cites ‘tough economic times’ – fast becoming a pretty tired old cover story – and says optimistically that it hope to avoid redundancies, there are 44 jobs at risk from the planned closures.

Mark Serwotka, General Secretary of the Public & Commercial Services Union (PCS) says: ‘This is another example of crude cost cutting measures hitting services in communities already badly affected by job losses and office closures in other areas of the civil service. Our fear is that this announcement will be a prelude to further closures which will further undermine services that the public receive. We would urge the minister to reconsider plans which will disproportionately hit rural communities and give assurances on the future of the remaining offices’.

It will certainly disproportionately hit the remote communities of Argyll and the Isles.

The Home Office’s Press Office deals with Passport Office matters. It has conformed that Oban is slated to close, saying that one of the criteria used in dertermining which offices to close was public use.

It says: ‘We are confident that our excellent customer service will not be affected as alternative offices are available within easy reach’. (Do these guys know anything about the Scottish Highlands?)

The Oban Office employs 2 members of staff and its closure is planned for ‘sometime around’ March to August 2010.