Post Office cull hits Suffolk
Yesterday my worst fears were confirmed when it was announced that all eight Post Offices in my constituency proposed for closure would shut. It is an absolute disgrace.
Since the public consultation began earlier this year, I have received hundreds of letters, emails and petitions against the closures. My constituents have been absolutely horrified at the thought of losing such a valuable and much needed local service.
We should have been able to look at how profitable these Post Offices really are and compared them to those that have been allowed to remain open. Yet we were not allowed to do this.
There has been no logic in this decision at all - no matter how well used, how profitable the Post Offices are or how keen the sub post-masters are to maintain their business, they are being closed down.
There is widespread agreement that the consultation has been an utter farce. None of the sixteen Post Offices in Suffolk identified for closure have been saved. This is despite the tremendous campaign against the closures that was led by my constituents.
Meanwhile, it has also been revealed that the last remaining magistrate’s court in my constituency may well be axed. As with the Post Office closures, it will hit those who have no access to transport in particular, and further remove an important community support structure.
It is high time this Government recognises the damage being done to rural communities from its decisions. At the next election, it will pay a heavy price for its metropolitan bias.
peter noble said on June 27th, 2008 at 12:02 am:
I agree that the whole consultation has been a farce. The post office is losing money so it is culling its sales outlets when it should be culling the failed management that have brought it to this disaster. I sent an objection to the email address supplied in the consultation document and recieved no reply nor even an acknowledgement. I sennt the following to the post office at consultation@postoffice.co.uk today, but i expect the same lack of response.
Hello, now that the decision has been made to close the post office at Barton Mills I wonder of if you could tell me how this decision what reached and what role the consultation exercise has played in this. how many objections did you recieve to the closure and what influence did this have on your decision. Was there ever any chance that if a sufficient number of objections were lodged that the closure would have not gone ahead. If so how many objections would have been required? If not what was the purpose of the consultation? Is there some way that the general public can access the objections recieved and the minutes of meetings in which the fate of our post office was decided? regards Peter Noble, Barton Mills, Suffolk