MP calls for official appeal against post office closures
EAST Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton has written call for an offical appeal.
Mr Loughton has written to the South East Chair of Postwatch, Sheila Button, requesting that an official appeal is made against the findings of Post Office Ltd's 'Area Plan Discussion Booklet' which condemns to closure 7 sub-post office branches in the constituency.
In writing to Postwatch, Mr Loughton has drawn attention to omissions and errors in the Post Office's report and in particular has requested that the findings against both Mill Road, North Lancing, and Bowness Avenue, Sompting, branches are appealed immediately.
The full text of Tim's letter is reproduced below.
Dear Sheila
Further to your letter of January 21st about post office closures in Sussex you will be aware that Post Office Limited have confirmed the closure of all 7 sub-post office branches in my East Worthing and Shoreham constituency, the highest number in the Sussex constituencies. This is despite the extraordinary opposition mounted by local residents, councillors, businesses and the sub-postmasters themselves. What is proposed is not an 18 per cent loss in post office branches as we are promised nationally but in my case we will lose almost half of our sub-post offices. I presented a petition signed by 6,200 people and raised the issue in a lengthy debate in Parliament.
The cursory comments in the Post Office Ltd 'Area Plan Discussion Booklet' are an insult to the amount of concern raised by my constituents during the truncated consultation period which it is now clear was a 'sham' exercise. The response in particular takes no account of the worsening deprivation statistics for Adur and Worthing which were published during the consultation and the brief comments in the report are littered with factual errors. For example in reference to complaints about having to cross busy roads to travel from Bowness Avenue to the alternative Lancing crown office branch the report refers to the A27. Of course the A27 runs nowhere near the route from Bowness Avenue to Lancing crown office.
Of the 7 branches earmarked for closure in my constituency 2 were resigned to their fate and the case for others was less clear cut. However, the case put for the retention of the Bowness Avenue branch in Sompting and Mill Road in Lancing was very compelling and yet was completely ignored. I will not repeat the case put forward which you can see again in detail in the Hansard record of the debate I initiated in Parliament on December 17th. I was disappointed therefore when you did not take up the case of the Bowness Avenue branch in your letter nor the Worthing and Shoreham branches which merited closer inspection. You did however refer to the Mill Road, Lancing branch and oppose its closure. I would therefore ask you whether you would initiate your procedures for appealing against the findings on this branch and at least the Bowness avenue branch and the while of the Sompting/Lancing area of my constituency has been hit disproportionately with the loss of 60 per cent of our branches.
I am keen to discuss this with you further and will offer any help to take steps to have this grossly unfair and misjudged decision reversed as I am sure will many of my constituents. I would very much appreciate your advice and support.
Yours sincerely,
Tim Loughton MP
East Worthing & Shoreham
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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