"Post offices announcement is a real blow to rural communities" - Farron

2.30.37pm GMT Thu 14th Dec 2006

The Department of Trade and Industry has today announced that up to 2,500, mostly rural post offices are to be closed over the coming years. The news comes as a huge blow to rural communities, many of whom have the village post office as their heart.

Local MP Tim Farron, who met with the Employment Minister Jim Fitzpatrick recently, was extremely disappointed to hear the news:

"I feel really let down by the DTI's decision to close up to 2,500 rural post offices. It shows a real lack of understanding of rural communities on the part of the government.

"The post office is at the very heart of dozens of rural communities across South Lakeland. The possibility of so many of them closing will simply rip the heart out of those communities.

"These closures are an even greater injustice because it is the Government which has removed so much business from the post office network - from benefits and the Post Office Card Account to paying for TV Licences and car tax.

"The consultation process is now open, and we will not give up the fight to save the post offices. I will be launching a petition of local postmasters so that local people can voice their opposition to the government's plans."