Lib Dems Hit Out At Post Office Closure List

9.33.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 24th Jun 2008

Liz Lynne (4th from left) campaigning in Kenilworth in February

Warwickshire Euro-MP Liz Lynne has congratulated the High Street Kenilworth post office she visited earlier this year, on not being earmarked for consultation on closure in the branch list released by the Post office today. But she reacted angrily to the list, which will likely lead to closure for many of the branches included amongst which is Kenilworth's Albion Street post office.

Liz Lynne, who has campaigned against the closures across the region and visited the High Street post office in February with Nigel Rock, Lib Dem prospective candidate for the new Kenilworth and Southam constituency and Councillors Ann Blacklock and John Whitehouse, said:

"This apparent reprieve for Fieldgate post office is a victory for the local campaign which fought so hard to save it. If it was not for the efforts of local councillors and campaigners such as Nigel Rock, postmistress Anne Williams and the many local residents who signed the petition, things might have turned out differently. Nevertheless this victory is scant consolation for the residents near Albion Street, whose branch is now on the list."

Nigel Rock said "The Lib Dems found it was the High Street branch slated for closure in the leaked plans a few months ago, but it looks like that was one of the few to have been removed from the target list - no doubt due to effective local pressure."

He added: "Unfortunately it seems the Post Office have just identified the next nearest one to close - in Albion Street. My colleagues and I will be campaigning for the retention of the Albion Street Post Office and its valuable service to local people. I have already been looking at what has happened elsewhere in the county - it is not yet a lost cause!"

Liz Lynne commented on the overall Post Office closure programme as follows:-

"The closing of local services anywhere will inconvenience people but the removal of post offices from suburban and rural areas will seriously hurt some communities.

Many post offices on this list are also combined with the local shop which may struggle to survive without the post office counter. If they close, many people on low incomes or reduced mobility could be forced to travel much further for vital goods and services they can currently find close to home.

The government is presumably hoping that people will take this lying down because the release of the Warwickshire list was delayed until after the local elections. But local people must make sure their voice is heard and sign petitions where possible. There is an alternative to these closures and the Liberal Democrats have a fully-costed plan which would revive the post office network."

On the claim sometimes made that the EU is behind the closures, Liz added:

"Some politicians would have you believe this is all the EU's fault, but I assure you it is not so; the closure programme comes directly from a political decision by the UK government to remove services from post office counters and the resultant fall in customers.

With fuel costs continuing to rise the government should be ensuring that essential services are delivered as locally as possible, not forcing people to travel ever further to find them."