Post Office's phoney consultation over Landport and Claremont Road laid bare at ministerial meeting

11.49.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 20th May 2008

Norman and the Lib Dems are fighting Labour and the Conservatives post office closures.

The decision to close vital post offices at Landport in Lewes and Claremont Road in Seaford was taken long before the "consultation" process undertaken by the Post Office was completed, it emerged today.

At a heated meeting between BERR Minister Pat McFadden and Post Office representatives on the other side, and Lewes MP and District Council leader Ann De Vecchi on the other, it became clear that a key objective of the Post Office was to increase the number of customers at, and so the viability of, the main offices in Lewes and Seaford, and that the way to do this was to close any other offices nearby.

Norman Baker says: "It is now clear that the Post Office decided very early on that both Landport and Claremont Road would shut, and that the so-called consultation was simply phoney, an empty exercise in cynicism. It doesn't matter to the Post Office that these units were viable, were much valued by the local community, and delivered an essential service. It didn't matter that there was huge opposition to the closures, even in the case of Landport from Postwatch. It didn't even matter that the District Council was prepared to help financially to keep them open.

"All that mattered to the Post Office is that the customers could be redirected to the Crown Office in Lewes High Street, or the main post office in Church Street, Seaford. Indeed, the more customers there were at the Landport and Claremont Road offices, the more could be transferred to the main offices. What kind of twisted logic is this?"

Ann De Vecchi adds: "The Post Office has also failed to acknowledge that there are already at certain times queues at the main Lewes office out onto the street. How can this unit possibly cope with even more customers?"

The council leader also slammed the Post Office for failing to engage properly with the council.

"We asked them for information, we signed their non-disclosure agreement, we did everything they asked, and they completely broke their promises and failed to supply the information we had requested. Indeed, we are still waiting to this day."

The Minister accepted that there was an issue to be addressed in respect of the capacity of the main offices and asked the Post Office to write to the MP and local council with details as to how this was to be dealt with.