Labour must take responsibility for Post Office closures
July 5, 2004 12:00 AM
A war of words has broken about between rival Lib Dem and Labour Councillors for Lockleaze over proposals to close the local Post Office at Danby House, Morris Road.
Lockleaze Lib Dem Cllr Sean Emmett has accused his Labour colleague Arthur Massey of "gross hypocrisy" over the latter's belated opposition to Post Office closures (BEP 5 July 2004, p5).
Cllr Emmett, who has been campaigning on the issue for the last 4 years since his election in February 2000 said: "Post Offices including Danby house and 376 Filton Avenue are being closed as a direct result of Labour Party policy to force pensioners to receive their pensions through bank accounts, without them being made aware that they could opt for payment at the local Post Office. This has deprived these local Post Offices of vital income".
Cllr Emmett was also scathing about a 'Labour Rose' leaflet distributed by Cllr Massey claiming that the threat of Post Office Closures was all "Lib Dem lies". Cllr Emmett said "If Cllr Massey had spent a fraction of the energy he spent in deceiving the people of Lockleaze and instead had publicly condemned the Labour government to force it to change its policies we might not be in the situation we are today."
Cllr Emmett also criticised Cllr Massey's statement that the Post Office at Danby House is 'thriving'. He said "Cllr Massey knows full well this is not the case because of the decline in Post Office business and withdrawal of the National Lottery franchise. Why did Labour not insist on a comprehensive network of local outlets, not just the big supermarkets, when it renewed Camelot's license?"
Cllr Emmett has lobbied the Council for funds to improve short-stay parking around Danby House to improve the viability of business on the site, and has criticised Neighbourhood Renewal for failing to make funds available unlike in the Hartcliffe/Withywood renewal area where funds are being used to improve the viability of local businesses, including a local sub-Post Office.
Cllr Emmett has previously called for the Council to help Post Offices across the City, particularly those renting premises from the Council, in a series of questions to Labour Executive Member John Bees in June 2002. But Councillor Bees had no interest in the matter and "talked out" Cllr Emmett's supplementaries. Cllr Emmett said "the local Labour Party has spent the last 4 years claiming the policy of closing Post Offices was all Lib Dem lies. Labour Councillors have only belatedly joined the campaigns against closure when they could no longer pretend it wasn't true."
Cllr Emmett has urged local people affected by the proposals to make their views known to the Royal Mail (Post Office), PostWatch and the Council's Post Office Select Committee, of which he is a member.
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