IN POST OFFICE LA-LA LAND YOU TOO CAN VISIT "THE TOWN OF BRICKET WOOD"

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 4th Jul 2008

The whole consultation process was a sham. If we save one post office, another will have to close

• after the current round of five post office closures, will more local branches be targeted?

Speaking at the 3rd July St Albans Council public meeting on the post office closure plans for the district, Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Sandy Walkington questioned whether the whole consultation process wasn't a sham.

"First it is made clear that this is a number driven exercise," Sandy said. "So if we save one post office, another will have to close. It simply pits one local community against another. When the music stops there will always be someone left out.

"But I also call into question whether any local research has been done at all by the Post Office. In its documentation on the so-called Network Change Programme for South Essex, South Herts and Bucks, the Post Office ludicrously claims to have taken into account 'rivers, mountains and valleys, motorways and sea crossings to islands in order to avoid undue hardship to customers.' Well there are not many of those in Hertfordshire.

"But what I would expect is an indication of a basic understanding of St Albans. Instead we get the following two lines in their document - less than for any other area covered by the proposals: 'St Albans is a relatively affluent area in Hertfordshire spreading out from the town of St Albans complete with its ancient Cathedral; the seat also includes the town of Bricket Wood in the south.'

"I am sure that the residents of the crowded metropolis of Bricket Wood will be delighted by this recognition of their great city. But how can we take seriously a consultation based on this garbage? It is La-La Land," Sandy said.

Sandy told the meeting that under the Labour Government's so-called Access Criteria on which the Post Office is basing its cuts, there only need to be 7,500 post office branches in the UK. "Yet even after the current round of 2,500 cuts, there will be 11,500 branches remaining. So we see the prospect of further salami-slicing, with maybe an additional seven or eight local branches going in the future. Where will it end? The queue is already almost always out the door at the St Peters Street branch. It is simply madness."

"The Post Office is saying that petitions and public protest will not make a difference. Of course they will say that. It suits them down to the ground for people to come quietly with business cases that they and their Labour Government masters can ignore. Well, we won't be quiet. The old, the frail and the vulnerable who depend on their local community post office deserve better."

ENDS

Note to Editors: For more information, please call Sandy Walkington on 07802 177317

Link to Post Office documentation attached: See page 6 for words about motorways and sea crossings, and page 9 for words about St Albans:

ftp://ftp.royalmail.com/Downloads/public/ctf/po/SouthEssex_SouthHerts_Bucks_%20AreaPlan_proposal_booklet_2.pdf