PO petition goes to Parliament

Pleas from thousands of local people to save Oldham’s threatened post offices have been take to Parliament.

The petitions with almost 10,000 names were presented by Oldham councillor Mark Alcock at the Houses of Parliament on Sunday.

Yesterday was the final day for consultation on the closures, as part of the Government’s national cull of 2,500 post offices.

In Oldham Lees post office is earmarked for closure, along with Grasscroft, Scouthead, Greenacres Moor, Buckstones Road, Egerton Street, Brackley Square, Lower Rushcroft, and Moorside, as part of a national cull of 2,500 post offices.

Councillor Alcock, who is also the Liberal Democrat parliamentary hopeful in Oldham East and Saddleworth, said: “I believe that closing any post office rips the heart out of that community.

“The Government seems intent on closing another eight of Oldham’s post offices on top of the 17 already closed. I really hope that the Government does listen to the thousands of Oldham residents who want to keep their local post office open.”

The petitions were handed to Carshalton and Wallington MP Tom Brake, part of Lib-Dem’s local government team, who said: “The Government’s plans to close the post offices in Oldham and across the country is going to damage local communities and local businesses as people are forced to travel to get their pensions and benefits from another post office in another area. This is not what local people want as the petitions I have received today show. “


Readers’ views sent to deciding team

POST Office closure protests from Chronicle readers are now being scrutinised by staff working with the National Consultation Team, under its head, Richard Lynds.

The views of Chronicle readers were assembled into a special submission which will be considered by the team deciding which, if any, of the eight post offices on the hit list will be sacrificed and which will be saved.

Comments of readers were also added to Oldham Council’s submission against the closure of local post offices.

“We decided to share the information we had from the hundreds of people anxious to save their local post office with Oldham Council because we want to present the strongest possible case, “ said Chronicle editor, Jim Williams.

“We designed our petition forms so that readers could specify which post office they wanted saving and also why the local office was so important to them.

“Some of the responses highlighted the problems that elderly people — many in their late 70s and 80s — would suffer if their local post office closed.

“They rely totally on the post office, not only for pensions, but for paying all their bills, for buying heating tokens etc.

“It really has a pivotal role in their lives, especially as the vast majority of them do not have a bank account, are not sufficiently mobile to get to bus stops and cannot afford taxis.

“If post offices close, these will be the real victims.”

Lees post office attracted the most support from Chronicle readers, followed by Lower Rushcroft, Shaw, Egerton Street, Oldham, Buckstones Road, Shaw, Greenacres Moor and Grasscroft.

The Moorside post office that was also on the hit list has not been in operation as a post office for some time and is now a residential property, and the Scouthead office attracted the support of only three local people.

But while numbers may be viewed as important by the Consultation Team, the editor believes that other factors should be taken into consideration, too.

“Take Egerton Street, for instance, “ he said, “it is in St Mary’s ward which, on the Government’s own figures, is in most deprived 2 per cent of neighbourhoods in England. Many residents are older, retired people with a disability and 48 per cent of the population live in low income households.

“It cannot be right to add to their cost of living by forcing them to pay to travel to another post office.”

A final decision on which, if any, of the Oldham post offices are to close is expected within the next month, but there are already fears that this round of closures — and Oldham seems certain to lose some of its offices — will not be the last as the Government seems set on a course to phase out the Post Office altogether.