Christopher Fraser, MP for South West Norfolk, has requested an urgent meeting with Post Office Ltd. so that he can be briefed on their proposals for sub post office closures in South West Norfolk and register his grave concerns about the closure policy.
Christopher Fraser said: “I will be meeting representatives of the Post Office next week. I am fighting for every post office under threat in my constituency, because I know how vital they are to rural community life. Our pensioners and families without transport rely on the post office for their every day needs. There is a better way, which would prevent wholesale closure. We should give sub post offices the freedom to offer a wider range of products and services.
“I believe that the access criteria laid down for the closures do not adequately take into account local geographical factors and public transport networks, and am deeply concerned that the consultation is little more than a public relations exercise. I am not yet privy to the extent of closures within our constituency, but I have been approached by some post masters who believe they may be scheduled for closure. I am working with them to do all we can to convince the Post Office of their viability.
“Government policy is driving these closures and now, after stripping post offices of many of the essential services that they used to offer, they are telling us that the network is no longer viable. It is also reported that the Government will deny the right of rural shops attached to sub post offices that close to find a way of continuing to provide key services to the community.
“Yet again, this Government has shown that it has little understanding of and no time for the problems facing people living in rural communities, for whom the retention of their few surviving amenities is vital. I shall be making these points in person to the Post Office.”
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