Furious reaction to Post Office closure plans

12:52pm Tuesday 17th June 2008

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POST office owners and MPs have slammed proposals to shut 11 post offices in south Bucks - and warned OAPs will be worst hit.

The Post Office announced long-awaited plans to shut the branches this morning, leaving 36 in south Bucks.

The Government said the service was costing the taxpayer too much - and said at least 92 per cent of customers would see no change or be a mile from another branch.

For a full list of proposed closures in south Bucks see the end of this story.

Wycombe MP Paul Goodman said "First of all, Tony Blair closed parts of Wycombe Hospital.

"Last week, Ed Balls threatened to shut two local schools.

"Soon Gordon Brown plans to force polyclinics on local doctors - perhaps closing surgeries.

"And now we learn that he wants to close two post offices in High Wycombe, and others in Hazlemere and elsewhere.

"What is about Bucks that Labour doesn't like? Do they want to turn the county into a public services wasteland?

"Labour seems to have no vision for the future of the Post Office other than to run down the service.

"Many Post Offices that close both offer a valuable social service to local communities and make a profit.

"This Government seems to know the price of everything and the value of nothing."

A consultation on the plans starts today and runs to July 28 but Mr Goodman said: "Many local people believe these consultations are mere window-dressing for cuts. I'm not confident that this one will change their minds."

Dominic Grieve, MP for Beaconsfield, where the old town's post office is down for closure, said: "I am appalled by these proposals.

"I find it difficult to see the rationale on which these Post Offices have been picked."

He said of the old town plan: "The Post Office has a substantial proportion of elderly people. Many of them are not particularly wealthy and it is not easy to at all for them to get to an alternative."

Tony Herbert, 68, of Kingsmead Road, Loudwater hit out at the plan to close the Station Road branch.

Mr Herbert, who worked for Royal Mail from 1969 until his retirement in 1991, said: "I would like to see them stay open, not just for me but for people who cannot out. There is a lot of people who rely on it.

"I wouldn't encourage any closures but surely there is something that can be done to keep them open - it goes back to the government."

Len King, owner of an under-threat branch in Wycombe Lane, Woodburn Green, said: "The Blair Government started 11 years ago to destroy the Post Office for reasons only known to themselves.

"The Post Office was profitable in 1997 and since then it has been disamantled. It is not a reflection on the Post Office management - it is a political decision."

The Government had damaged the Post Office by taking away services such as TV licence renewal and banking, he said.

He said his other Post Office at Tesco Express on The Green should mean customers still use the service.

Yet Kuhan Kuhanandan, who owns Amersham Old Town Post Office, said: "We have quite a lot of older people who are not in the position to go the new town post office.

"You cannot say it is a business - it is a public service and should be funded by central or local government."

The Post Offices in line for closure are:

Loudwater, Station Road, High Wycombe

Wycombe Lane, Wooburn Green

The Parade, Bourne End

Hazlemere Crossroads, High Wycombe

Desborough Road, High Wycombe

North Town, Totteridge Road, High Wycombe

Old Town, Aylesbury End, Beaconsfield

Chalfont Common, Rickmansworth Lane, Chalfont St Peter

Amersham Old Town, Market Square

Botley Stores, Botley Road, Chesham

Waterside, Chesham.

What do you think of the proposals? Leave your comments below.