Peter Aldous on Post Office closures
28th November 2007
District Councillor Simon Woods is right to highlight the inaccessibility of the main Post Office in Bungay as the reason why the Flixton Road sub-post office should not be closed.
Sir
District Councillor Simon Woods is right to highlight the inaccessibility of the main Post Office in Bungay as the reason why the Flixton Road sub-post office should not be closed. It is clear that access should be a key criteria that Royal Mail should take in to account when considering closures. It is to be regretted that only 6 rather than the normal 12 weeks has been allowed for consultation. There has to be a worry about how much notice will be taken of the overwhelming public opposition against the proposed cutback in the post office network when Royal Mail intend to make their decision before 10th December.
It is unfortunate that the Government have failed to have a long term vision for the future of network [there have been 4,875 sub-post office closures since 1997] and has not recognized the fantastic service provided by sub-postmasters to their communities. Instead of taking away services such as benefit payments, road tax and TV licences, they should be encouraging new business opportunities, such as allowing post offices to work with other service providers, working with local councils so that council services can be provided and encouraging more flexible use of the Post Office Card Account.
Peter Aldous, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Waveney.
