Lib Dems condemn Post Office collaboration as further branches in Montgomeryshire condemned to closure

12.42.19pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 23rd Jul 2008

Post Office Ltd has announced that two Post Offices in Castle Caereinion and Llanbrynmair which were earmarked for closure will be replaced with mobile post offices. Montgomeryshire MP Lembit Öpik and AM Mick Bates have slammed the decision as damaging to the environment and criticise the Post Office for failing to take heed of the needs of surrounding communities:

Commenting, Lembit Öpik MP:

"I cannot see how this is any kind of a worthwhile compromise. The Government are only just seeing the value of these Post Offices, that provide local residents with crucial local services, but have offered a scheme that will require continuous and rising fuel costs, and goes no way to address the problems of climate change, but merely adds to it.

"This Labour government has disappointed those people and businesses it pledged to protect. Asserting that these closures are necessary because the Post Offices are not profitable is entirely unfair as they have taken government business away from the Post Offices but have stopped them from expanding their other business."

Mick Bates AM adds:

"I am extremely disappointed with the attitude of the Post Office towards this process. It is a further waste of public money on a quasi consultation exercise in which Post Office Ltd and the Westminster Government have collaborated for their own end, taking no heed of the views expressed by local communities.

"After the efforts of the Castle Caereinion and Llanbrynmair communities this is devastating news. I am deeply concerned that Post Office Ltd has failed to make any effort to bring more service into these businesses.

"Replacing the branches with a mobile service flies in the face of sustainable communities and any number of 'green' initiatives designed to get us out of our cars. In an age where fuel prices are escalating, I challenge Post Office Ltd to prove that their decision will provide a more cost effective solution than keeping the current status quo."