Local people devastated as 4 Post Offices to close around Hitchin

Parliamentary Candidate Nigel Quinton is appalled at the news that the north of the constituency is to lose four post offices.

Blakes Corner in Hitchin, St Ippolyts, Hexton and Whitwell are all on the list for closure announced today by the Post Office.

Local Liberal Democrats are hoping that all political parties and community groups can join together to fight these closures - as only a concerted campaign by the whole community can hope to save any individual branch, and even then, as the Post Office documents make clear, if you save one it may well mean that the next nearest is threatened instead.

Parliamentary Candidate Nigel Quinton had this to say: "There is absolutely no justification for these latest cuts by this Labour Government. The total savings across the country will amount to just £45 million - the post office board between them cost us £9 million last year in salary and bonuses alone.

"The people most affected by these closures will be the old, the infirm and the vulnerable, many of whom rely on their local Post Office and who are not able to simply walk - or more likely drive - to the next nearest branch. And in these days of increasing concern about identity theft and fraud, it is just plain stupid to remove the most secure form of transaction - the cross counter relationship at one's local Post Office branch."

And it seems these cuts will not be the last - Labour's "access criteria" suggest the country only "needs" 7,500 branches, suggesting there will be another 4000 closures even after these swingeing cuts go through.

Looking at the proposed closures Nigel was very concerned for people in the outlying areas - losing post offices at Whitwell, Hexton and St Ippolyts will be a huge blow for local people and will inevitably lead to more car journeys into neighbouring towns. "How can we take this government seriously on climate change when it introduces policies like this?" he asked. "And whereas other areas have been promised so-called outreach services for rural areas to partly make up for the closures, it is striking that we have been promised nothing here."

Nigel had this to say about the national policy of Post Office Closures: "It has been great to see all parties working together to fight local closures in St Albans and other areas. For the moment we must put all political differences aside and set about writing letters to the consultation to protest in the loudest possible way. Ultimately though, we would like the other political parties to do more than just campaign for their local post office - we want them to endorse the plans we published in 2006 that set out a radical transformation of the Post Office Network, which would be separated from Royal Mail and recognised as the social service that it is. Only in this way can the future of our Post Office service be preserved."