Urgent Action needed to reverse collapse of Post Office network

10.01.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 27th Feb 2006

Norman Lamb MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow DTI Secretary, has warned that the closure of 10,000 Post Office over the next 4 years would do irreparable damage to communities. With Post Offices, such as the one on Northgate Parade already closed and the "temporary" closure of the Broadfield Barton one, this is a problem that is already hitting Crawley.

Norman Lamb, who will put forward plans to invest £2 billion into the Post Office Network to modernise and protect local branches at the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference next month, said "Royal Mail seems happy to just stand by and watch while Post Office branches and local communities wither, and the Government too appear to have no plans to halt the decline. Cutting the number of Post Office branches from 14,000 to just 4,000 would be devastating for rural and deprived communities."

In Crawley Northgate Councillor Linda Seekings said "We have already lost our Post Office in Northgate and that is causing some real problems for many residents. I don't want the same problem to happen in other area of Crawley. The Post Office network is the centre of many communities and should be supported, not destroyed."