Barry Stamps Political Diary

One really does have to ask just how committed the Conservatives on the Council are to trying to ensure Post Office services remain in those areas of the Borough that have been told their current Post Office is to close.

At the Council meeting in April it was unanimously agreed that a letter should be sent to the Government objecting to the Post Office closure plans and asking for more time to be given to allow proper consultation with the residents who would be affected. However despite all the harsh words that were spoken in the meeting that night and the plethora of press stories about the Tories local campaign to save those Post Offices under threat, it took a month before the letter was finally sent!

At the same meeting it was agreed to set-up an all party working group to look at ways of both fighting the closures and if necessary to try to find alternative ways of providing the service. Since that day I have asked time and time again when the first meeting of the group was going to be held. Well surprise, surprise – on Wednesday I received a letter say the meeting was taking place at 2.30pm on Thursday. Talk about last minute panic! However it seems that the Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for resources had just discovered that the deadline for public comment on the Post Office closure plans ended next Monday, so if the meeting had not been called then it would have been too late for the Council to get their comments in!