Lib Dem campaigners step up the pressure to save our local post offices

10.16.33am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 17th Dec 2007

David Gray is asking all Lewes residents to write to the consultation team and keep Landport Post Office open.

Government plans to close seven post offices locally are being fiercely resisted by local Lib Dem campaigners. Since the closure plans were announced local campaigners have gathered thousands of petition signatures, held public meetings, conducted surveys and lobbied officials.

Landport campaigner David Gray is urging all Lewes residents to write to the consultation team immediately to object to the planned closure.

David says "Look at the queues at Lewes Post Office. How is it supposed to cope with thousands of extra customers who will come here if the Landport branch closes? There are problems with parking already and Landport post office closing will only make these worse. The whole area will be affected, not just Landport."

Newhaven campaigner Pat Ost has surveyed residents in Denton and South Heighton who will be affected if Mount Pleasant post office closes. Most respondents said that it would be difficult for them to travel to the post office in the centre of Newhaven.

"People in South Heighton have already lost their post office. Closing the Mount Pleasant branch will make things very difficult for people who have difficulty travelling, and will results in extra congestion in the centre of Newhaven."

Jon Freeman, councillor for Seaford, is fighting the two planned closures there. Seaford residents were invited to a public meeting on 10th December to discuss how the closures could be stopped. Hundreds of people have signed the petitions to save Claremont Road and Fairways post offices.

Jon says: "We have been to London to discuss the closures with the Post Office management. But they have been put in an impossible position by the Labour Government. Labour are determined to cut these services for local people, whatever the cost."

Local MP Norman Baker has met with senior officials at both the Post Office and Royal Mail in a bid to ward off the proposed closures of seven sub-post offices in the Lewes constituency.

Norman says: "It is clear that the post offices at Landport, Denton and Claremont Road in particular are performing robustly, with a regular throughput in the upper hundreds. It seems clear to me that this closure programme is simply a brutal exercise designed to meet arbitrary government targets for cuts, rather than any sensible assessment of the network."

Members of the public can write to the consultation team at FREEPOST CONSULTATION TEAM, Gary Herbert, Network Development Manager c/o National Consultation Team. Letters must arrive by 24th December.