BOSSES URGED TO VISIT THREATENED BRANCHES
Published on 16/04/2008
SOUTH Lakes MP Tim Farron has asked Post Office bosses to urgently visit three branches in his Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency in a last ditch effort to keep their doors open.
The Liberal Democrat has written to Richard Lynds and Julia Young in a bid to get a reprieve for the Greenodd, Leven Valley and Beetham post
offices.
Mr Lynds, Post Office Limited’s network development manager, and Ms Young, the firm’s senior external relations manager, are both based in the North West and are in charge of the final decisions on closure proposals in the region.
They are currently visiting threatened branches where campaigns, like the North-West Evening Mail’s Stamp Out Closures, are urging a rethink.
Already Prime Minister Gordon Brown has told the newspaper that there would be a full review procedure by Post Office Limited before any final closure decisions, leaving a glimmer of hope that some Furness, South Lakes and West Cumbria branches could be saved from the axe. Furness MP John Hutton, who as Business Secretary piloted the closure programme through the House of Commons despite a Labour backbench revolt, has said he would be studying proposals to shut post offices in his vconstituency “closely” to see if there were any alternatives.
Mr Farron said: “I have written to Julia Young and Richard Lynds, who are in charge of the review of the closure programme in the North West, to ask them to visit three branches in my constituency – Greenodd, Leven Valley and Beetham.
“I want them to come as soon as possible.
“I want them to see for themselves how important these post offices are to their local communities and how closing them would hit local people, especially young mothers and pensioners.
“I believe that if they come they will realise why these branches should be saved.
“I hope Ms Young and Mr Lynds will take the time to visit Greenodd, Leven Valley and Beetham in person and that as a result will realise how important they are to the South Lakes and scrap the closure plans for their local post offices.”
In all, 35 branches face closure in Cumbria.