Reprieve closure POs bid

Last updated 19:41, Thursday, 15 May 2008

PRESSURE is mounting on the Post Office to reprieve some of its 45 closure-threatened branches in Cumbria.

County councillors voted to oppose the closures and tell Post Office bosses that their thinking is flawed.

The authority’s cabinet is arguing that closures discriminate against older people.

It also says that the method the Post Office has used to identify the branches to go lacks detail and financial information.

Councillor Gary Strong, the cabinet member for community development, said: “We have had meetings with Post Office management but in the end they are going to implement their plan. We were not being consulted on whether to close branches, but which branches.”

He added: “It is not they who ultimately must bear responsibility but the government who must surely reap the dividend at the next election.”

Post Offices under threat in Allerdale are Workington’s Vulcans Lane, High Harrington, Brigham, Broughton Moor, Camerton, Crosby, Grasslot, and Hayton near Aspatria.

Workington MP Tony Cunningham has thrown his weight behind the fight to keep them open, working with the county and Allerdale councils.

Members of Allerdale’s community scrutiny committee will meet today at 10am to “consider the Post Office’s closure plan”.