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Post office closures "flawed"
WILTSHIRE County Council claims the proposals to close more than 20 post offices in the county are flawed.
Councillor Jane Scott, leader of the county council, has sent a four page letter to post office boss Tim Nickolls overseeing the public consultation which ended on Thursday.
Petitions signed by more than 20,000 people have been collected in Wiltshire and sent to the Post Office.
Coun Scott said she was concerned that the closure of rural post offices would have a knock on effect on the villages that they serve.
She said some post offices are combined with a village shop and rural businesses will face increased costs in money and time to post parcels.
She said: "These closures will hurt many rural Wiltshire communities for very little obvious benefit.
"Older people, and those with no car, will be particularly affected. I am concerned that the Government's policy seems to take no account of deprivation in our rural communities and only focuses on cities."
The Post Office said in its consultation document that over 99 per cent of the population will be within one mile of an alternative post office.
The document said the post office closures are needed to ensure that the post office network has a sustainable future.
But Coun Scott said there was a lack of low floor/wheelchair access buses travelling to alternative branches.
In her letter Coun Scott mentions particular post offices that are due to close.
She said in Bradenstoke the option of having an alternative post office at RAF Lyneham would only be available for people who have security clearance from the RAF.
In Kington St Michael Coun Scott said the post office branch reopened in 2004 after considerable local fund-raising and the shop was taken over by the community in April. She said more than 60 local businesses use the post office there.
Coun Scott is also writing to the Local Government Association asking if local councils can help sustain post offices by putting through extra services.
2:12pm Monday 4th February 2008
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