Lib Dems force council to take closer look at Post Office closures

12.32.51pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 1st Oct 2007

Lib Dems in West Berkshire have this week forced West Berkshire Council to take a closer look at proposals to close Post Offices in the district. A report presented to last week's meeting of the Executive asked members to 'note the next stage in the process to close 2500 sub post offices nationally'. Members of the Liberal Democrat Group have signed a request, calling in the report to the next meeting of the council's Overview & Scrutiny Commission.

West Berkshire's Lib Dems are campaigning hard to save our Post Offices

Councillor Owen Jeffery, who is leading the call-in, explained why:

"Simply noting these planned closures is wholly inadequate as a response to a potentially significant destruction of our local Post Offices branches. We believe that West Berkshire Council should be asking the LGA to respond robustly and nationally;

that the council should be writing in strong terms to the Minister and to the Post Office Board; and that West Berkshire Council should support public opposition to the proposal. We want to see more constructive action than simply sitting back and letting our Post Offices close around us".

Councillor David Rendel added:

"At best West Berkshire will lose 4 sub post offices, but the worst case scenario would see us lose 7. There were 3,500 Post Offices closed under the last Conservative government and we are seeing this continue in West Berkshire today. The Tories are letting down the villages and rural communities by not responding more robustly to these closures and therefore we have called this in, in order to properly represent local people's views to central government on this major issue."

Note to Editor

The Post Office proposed closures programme will be reviewed at the meeting of the O&SC held on 2nd October 2007.