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SAVE MERTON'S POST OFFICES! |
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Brian Paddick and Merton Liberal Democrats have launched a major campaign to save local post offices.
Following thousands of post office closures during recent years, Gordon Brown's Labour Government now say that a further 2,500 are to close, and 169 of those are in London. The Liberal Democrats have launched a petition against these closures. Four post office branches in Wimbledon and two more in Mitcham and Morden are affected by the announcement, and this latest round of closures will therefore see over a quarter of local branches closing."The Liberal Democrats believe that local post offices provide a vital community service and that the Government should do everything it can to stop this latest wave of closures," said Shas Sheehan, Merton & Wandsworth Lib Dem London Assembly candidate.
"We need as many people as possible to sign our petition and support the campaign.
"Local Liberal Democrats will continue to lead the fight to save local post offices. I would urge local people to sign our online petition at http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/saveourpostoffice" The local Lib Dems will also soon be circulating their petition via their local Focus leaflets. Once collected the petitions will be sent to Brian Paddick to be presented to Downing Street.
London Mayoral candidate, Brian Paddick said: "Post offices are often the heart of a local community and we must all do our utmost to preserve them. "The trouble with economic arguments is that they leave people out of the equation and they are the most important part.
"Many people rely on a local post office, and to close 20% of London's post offices just shows a complete disregard for the needs of the local community."
Notes
- Details of the post offices proposed for closure in London can be found here ftp://ftp.royalmail.com/Downloads/public/ctf/po/London_Area_Plan_Proposal.pdf. The consultation on these proposed closures will run until 2nd April 2008.
- According to the House of Commons Library, from 1999 to 2005, the number of post offices in Merton fell from 29 to 24 (See as reported in the Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/31/utable.xml). A further two post offices closed in Mitcham & Morden in 2006.
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