'No' to Post Office Closures say Church End Ward Councillors (Redbridge Liberal Democrats)

Redbridge Liberal Democrats <info@redbridgelibdems.co.uk>

'No' to Post Office Closures say Church End Ward Councillors

March 3, 2008 4:18 PM
By Cllr Richard Hoskins in Cllr Huh Cleaver.Tel:85307810, hugh.cleaver@redbridge.gov.uk or Cllr Richard Hoskins, Tel 85044253, richard.hoskins@redbridge.gov.uk or Cllr Nicola Sinclair, Tel: 85060721, nicola.sinclair@redbridge.gov.ukk

Post Office at 213 High Road, Woodford

The three Church End Ward Councillors have reacted furiously to the news that the Post Office is threatening to close the Post Office at 213 High Road, South Woodford.

They have started working with local residents to draw up a battle plan to fight these closures tooth and nail.

In a statement they said "We are furious that the local Post Office at 213 High Rd should be closed leaving us with only the already overcrowded George Lane Post Post Office".

Local offices like 213 High Rd are a lynch pin for local residents. Where will the closure leave older people and those with mobility issues, mothers with young children.

Any small savings the Government makes can in no way offset the huge cost to the community closures like this will have.

The closure will hit hard at local small businesses who rely on the Post Office for essential services and will be the death knell for local shopping parades who rely on local Post Offices as a draw for customers.

The closure proposal is preposterous; it ignores the needs of residents, many thousands of local people do not have the time to travel to a Post Office elsewhere, or queue up in already overcrowded offices like George Lane.

The population of South Woodford is growing rapidly with hundreds of new homes being built locally.

Over the next few years the population of Church End ward will grow by some 25%.

If these plans go through we will be left with just one Post Office between Broadmead Road and Wanstead High street.

The so-called consultation is a kick in the teeth for local people. We already have a second-class service in London with half as many post offices per head of population as the rest of the UK "