GOVERNMENT FAILS TO LISTEN ON POST OFFICES (Kirklees Liberal Democrats)

Kirklees Liberal Democrats <info@kirkleeslibdems.org.uk>

GOVERNMENT FAILS TO LISTEN ON POST OFFICES

May 17, 2007 4:26 PM

"- Government determined to deliver cuts to local services" say Lib Dems.

Cllr Kath Pinnock (Lib Dem Leader in Kirklees) has hit out at the government's failure to listen to the concerns of local people, post masters and misstresses over further post office closures announced today saying that the government are determined to deliver cuts to local services.

Cllr K Pinnock says:

"Liberal Democrats across Kirklees have been working with local people - including postmaster and mistresses from across the borough- to oppose the govenment's proposed closure of a futher 2500 branches since they were announced".

"Post offices play a vital role at the hearts of our communities, providing key servcies to residents of all ages, including the elderly and those with limited mobility".

"A recent survey we completed of post masters and mistreses from across Kirklees idenitfied that about 50% of all post office customers have a problem getting about their areas. As such, these further closures could mean increased difficulty for a signincent number of local people."

"We communciated these concerns to the Governmemt as part of their consultation and we have been ignored"

"Kirklees has lost many post offices since 1999 and we cannot afford see more of these valuable local resources closed."

"Alternatives to closures have been put forward. Liberal Democrats at Westminster wanted a shared ownership model similar to the one used by the John Lewis Partnership to be adopted. This would have allowed an additional £2 billion to be invested to safe guard the future of the network but the government are dead set on delivering cuts to local services"