Post office closures in Long Lawford and Bulkington
The petition of residents of the UK,
Declares that the post office facilities in Long Lawford and Bulkington, run by the Post Office and the Co-operative Society, should not be closed; further that the closures would result in redundancies of current post office staff; and further that local petitions on this matter have been signed by 1551 individuals.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to encourage the Post Office and the Co-operative Society to reconsider the planned closure of post offices in Long Lawford and Bulkington.
And the petitioners remain, etc—[Presented by Mark Pawsey, Official Report, 13 April 2016; Vol. 608, c. 473].
[P001683]
Observations from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Life Sciences (George Freeman):
The Government understand the importance of Post Office services to local communities and the concerns over any disruption to those services.
The Post Office operates as an independent business and the Government do not interfere in day to day operational responsibilities of the company, which includes decisions on the provision and location of individual post offices.
The Post Office recognises how important its services are to local communities and is committed to maintaining these services wherever possible. Unplanned closures can occur as a result of a situation beyond the control of the Post Office and where this happens, the Post Office works quickly to try to restore services to the community, where possible.
The Post Office has advised the Government that both of these branches are in a temporary closure position resulting from the resignation of their previous postmasters and the withdrawal of the premises for use. The Post Office is currently in the process of carrying out a local public consultation on reopening Bulkington post office at alternative premises nearby. The Government understand that, while no solution has yet been found for Long Lawford, the Post Office’s field teams continue to work hard with the local community to identify alternative provision.