Fighting for our Post Offices
Since 1999 we have seen 298 sub post offices close in Wales. Often these were village post offices. Currently the fight is on to save Lawrenny Post office in my area and recently there was the very unwelcome news that Pumpsaint Post Office was to close permanently.
The Labour Westminster Government must bear most of the blame for this state of affairs.
The withdrawal of the Post Office card account from 2010 sends out a very clear. message about the Government’s intention to run down Post Office services. In the area I represent, which is an area of villages and small communities with small market towns, the largest town in the area is Llanelli which is quite untypical of the rest of the area.
If there is no local Post Office then often customers, who may have no car, are forced to travel to the nearest town ( which may be some distance away.) to use a bank or Post Office. The problem is compounded. by the withdrawal of other services from post
offices. It is no longer possible to apply for a TV licence or a passport at a post office, for example.
I believe the local post office whether rural. or urban is something worth fighting for Post Offices should not be judged by economic factors alone they perform a suberb social function too.
