4 September 2006
Post office closures will “devastate rural communities”.
This autumn the obligation on the Post Office to prevent any avoidable closures of rural post offices ends; meanwhile John Prescott is reviewing the £150m government support for the rural post office network.
Cotswolds MP, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown today gave his full support to the Gloucestershire Rural Community Council’s campaign to save rural post offices, and said:
Tetbury Post Office“Rural post offices are crucial to country life, their loss would devastate rural communities, many of whom already exist with meagre local facilities. The government must recognise the vital local services they provide. In many rural communities throughout the Cotswolds, an area with many elderly people and sparse public transport, rural post offices are the only local shop or service, they are crucial to survival. Remarkably, post offices throughout the country have continued to thrive despite the changes to how welfare payments are made, and TV licenses are issued – I applaud their tenacity.”
He added:
“This government disregards country life and the needs of rural dwellers. In a year in which the Department of Health has closed our community hospitals and farmers have witnessed the gross inefficiency of DEFRA making single farm payments to– the loss of rural post offices really would be the final nail in the coffin for our communities and their survival. I will be writing to John Prescott to urge the government to put into place long-term support to safeguard the future of rural post offices.”
This autumn the obligation on the Post Office to prevent any avoidable closures of rural post offices ends; meanwhile John Prescott is reviewing the £150m government support for the rural post office network.
Cotswolds MP, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown today gave his full support to the Gloucestershire Rural Community Council’s campaign to save rural post offices, and said:
Tetbury Post Office“Rural post offices are crucial to country life, their loss would devastate rural communities, many of whom already exist with meagre local facilities. The government must recognise the vital local services they provide. In many rural communities throughout the Cotswolds, an area with many elderly people and sparse public transport, rural post offices are the only local shop or service, they are crucial to survival. Remarkably, post offices throughout the country have continued to thrive despite the changes to how welfare payments are made, and TV licenses are issued – I applaud their tenacity.”
He added:
“This government disregards country life and the needs of rural dwellers. In a year in which the Department of Health has closed our community hospitals and farmers have witnessed the gross inefficiency of DEFRA making single farm payments to– the loss of rural post offices really would be the final nail in the coffin for our communities and their survival. I will be writing to John Prescott to urge the government to put into place long-term support to safeguard the future of rural post offices.”
