Post Office Closures

Announcement Made Today Very Poor for the Moorlands

 Local Conservatives reacted with dismay to the news announced today for plans to close five Post Offices in the Staffordshire Moorlands Parliamentary Constituency. Additionally, several other local branches that have been earmarked for closure will affect residents of the Staffordshire Moorlands.  A six week consultation period starts today, and the Conservatives are urging people to make sure that their voices are heard to show just how important these local branches are.

Karen Bradley, Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Staffordshire Moorlands, said:

“Learning that five local Post Offices will close is really disappointing. Given that 2,500 are due to close around the country, I had expected that we might have four closures, but had hoped that as we have seen so many Post Offices close already in the Moorlands – twelve since 1999 – that the review might be kind.  Clearly, we are once again bottom of the pile.

We will give local people the chance to have their say about these closures. We have six weeks to respond and in that time we will organise petitions and let people have forms that they can use to respond directly.”

The Post Offices earmarked for closure in the Staffordshire Moorlands Parliamentary Constituency are:

Mill Street, Leek

Ball Haye Green, Leek

Knypersley

Foxt

Kingsley Holt

In the SMDC area, Draycott will close. Additionally, Mow Cop, which is in Congleton constituency in Cheshire, but serves the people of Staffordshire has been named in the closure list. The residents of Staffordshire Moorlands will also be affected by the closure of neighbouring branches such as Brindley Ford, Fegg Hayes and Mayfield.

The Conservative action plan to save the Post Offices will:

Give sub-post masters more freedom to offer a wider range of businesses
Push for more Post Offices to be ‘One Stop Shops’ with staff able to advise on a range of matters including tax returns, pension entitlements and local authority services
Encourage local councils to open ‘Council Counters’ in local branches
Allow the Post Office to work with carriers other than the Royal Mail
Prevent the Royal Mail taking business away from sub-Post Offices by under cutting the prices they can charge for postage.
The photograph shows Cllr John Povey, Cllr Gill Heath, Karen Bradley and Cllr Patrick Burke campaigning on Saturday 29 March on Post Office closures.