Passion for St Breward PO at Parish meeting

Posted on Sunday, April 13, 2008 ·

St Breward residents passionately defended their local Post Office this week, as North Cornwall MP, Dan Rogerson, visited their Parish Council.

Mr Rogerson is campaigning to save Post Offices across Cornwall from the Government’s closure programme, which will see 2,500 branches close across the UK.

The local Liberal Democrat MP gave his full support to St Breward residents and congratulated the local WI on their campaign to support the village Post Office.

Commenting after the meeting, Mr Rogerson said:

“There was real passion in the room this evening in defence of St Breward’s Post Office.

“Postmasters themselves have been treated extremely shoddily by Ministers, with threatening letters forbidding them from commenting on the likely future of their branches.

“So we cannot be sure of the prospects for this branch, or of any other.

“What is clear is that people here use and value their Post Office. St Breward is a moorland village with poor public transport links. Older members of the community, in particular, benefit from the Post Office’s services.

“The Government’s closure programme is one element of what seems to be a brutal assault on rural services from tax offices, to learning facilities, to bus routes.

“I will continue to offer vigorous opposition to that assault, both in Parliament and here in North Cornwall, and I’ll ensure that the letters handed to me on Thursday night reach the appropriate authorities.”

 

Notes:

Research for Postwatch in 2004 showed that:

  • 75% of those surveyed felt their local post office was ‘extremely important’
  • 59% thought it was ‘essential to their way of life’
  • 91% agreed it played an ‘important role in their local community’
  • 86% felt that losing a Post Office means ‘a lot of people lose their independence’
  • 27% found it difficult to get to another post office when their local one closed·

The last Conservative Government closed 3,500 Post Offices. Labour have already closed 4,000 and plan to close a further 2,500 in the coming months.

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