Mike Wood launched a campaign to challenge the Post Office Ltd's plans to close three local post offices.
Sadly, the consultation process run by the Post Office Ltd did not acknowledge any of the strong and sound arguments put forward by Mr Wood and local people.
Mr Wood has appealed to Kirklees Council to do what other councils have done and take on running the post offices which are to close.
July 15 2008
MP condemns post office decision and brands consultation 'a fiction' |
Campaigns to save three local post offices from closure have failed to convince the Post Office to change its plans.
Post Office Ltd announced today that it was going ahead with its planned closure of East Bierley, Soothill and Bradford Road at Batley in spite of strong arguments from local people.
Batley and Spen MP Mike Wood, who organised campaigns to save three post offices in his constituency the day the plans were announced, condemned the decision and branded the consultation process ‘a fiction’.
Mr Wood said: “I am absolutely distraught at this news especially as we put so much hard work into constructing what I thought was a very strong case for a re-think. It appears however that Post Office Ltd can close post offices that don’t even meet their own criteria for closure.
“I knew at the outset of our efforts that things were very much stacked against us but I really did hope that the consultation process was just that and not a fiction. It appears that I was wrong and I am sorry that we were not able to change this damaging and short sighted decision.”
Mr Wood has now initiated discussions with Kirklees Council to see if they will take over the running of these post offices.
Mr Wood said: “In various parts of the country local councils have taken ownership of closed post offices and are successfully running them in a variety of guises, often jointly with council information points or other services.
“I have approached the leader of the council, Robert Light, to request he explore seriously these sorts of options for our threatened post offices.”
After the Parliamentary recess, Mr Wood intends to raise with ministers what lessons can be learnt from this process so that at the very least those areas of the country who are yet to face this situation will know quite how much the cards are stacked against them.
“I will raise the failings and flaws in this process in Parliament, although I accept this is of no consolation to us in Batley and Spen.”
Mr Wood expressed his thanks to all those who had supported the campaign and worked on opposing the closures.
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July 9 2008
Decision on post offices due next week |
The results of the local campaigns to stop the closure of three local post offices will be known next Wednesday (July 15).
More than 250 people attended two meetings - one in Batley and one in East Bierley - organised by Mike Wood MP to co-ordinate opposition to the Post Office's proposals.
Submissions for keeping the Soothill and Bradford Road branches in Batley and East Bierley Post Office open were put together by Mr Wood and two local working parties.
These were sent off to the Post Office Ltd who will decide whether or not to push through their plans on Wednesday.
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June 17 2008
Cases against closure ready to submit |
Detailed arguments against closing three post offices in Batley and Spen will be submitted to the Post Office Ltd on Thursday (June 19 2008).
Mike Wood MP has organised the local campaign against the closures following two public meetings. These meetings created working parties in Batley and East Bierley to prepare submissions.
And on Saturday the draft submissions were made available to local people to scrutinise, comment upon and suggest amendments to at events in Soothill and East Bierley.
Mr Wood said: “Once again the strength of feeling about these proposals was made crystal clear by the number of people who turned out to offer feedback.
“The feedback was constructive and helpful and once the minor amendments suggested have been made the submissions will be presented to the Post Office.
“Once again I’d like to thank all those people who’ve played a part in this campaign. I hope the Post Office will listen to what we have to say and agree with us that these three valuable branches should not close.”
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June 12 2008
Submissions available for public scrutiny |
The working parties set up to prepare arguments against the closure of three local post offices have completed their submissions.
The submissions will be used to convince the Post Office Ltd not to drive ahead with the proposed closure of branches of East Bierley, Soothill and Bradford Road (Batley).
Mike Wood MP, who has organised the campaign against these three proposed closures, completed the work on the submissions himself this week.
Mr Wood said: "I want to thank all those who have contributed to this process since the public meetings were held.
"We will make as strong a submission as possible for each of these branches and I hope we can convince the Post Office to see things our way."
The submissions will be available for local people to view and comment upon on Saturday (June 14) at Soothill Community Centre from 10am to noon and at St Luke's Church in East Bierley from 12.30pm to 2.30pm.
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June 3 2008
Work underway on case against closure |
Work on preparing submissions to argue the case for keeping three local post offices open is underway.
Mike Wood MP called two public meetings to kick start campaigns to save the branches at Soothill and Bradford Road in Batley and at East Bierley.
The Post Office say the branches are losing money and there are alternative branches within a mile.
Overwhelming local feeling is that each of these branches is of value to the local community and needs to remain open.
The public meetings formed working groups to prepare the case against closure. These have met and are due to meet again this week.
Once the submissions are complete they will be sent to Post Office Ltd. Copies will be available locally for people to read before they are submitted.
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May 19 2008
Post offices campaign UPDATE |
More than 250 people attended two meetings organised by Mike Wood to fight proposed post office closures at Soothill and Bradford Road in Batley and in East Bierley.
The two meetings, chaired by Mr Wood, allowed local people to air their views and make constructive comments to senior staff from Post Office Counters Ltd.
As a result, local residents have formed working parties which will lead the opposition to the plans and feedback to the formal consultation process.
Mr Wood said: "The threat to these three post offices is a major issue - the staggering turnout at these meetings demonstrates that very well and was very heartening.
"With this kind of backing and by working together I hope we can convince the Post Office to re-think and keep these valuable post offices open."
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May 13 2008
MP launches campaigns to save Post Offices |
Batley and Spen MP Mike Wood has launched campaigns to save three of the post offices earmarked for closure.
Mr Wood feels there are strong arguments for keeping the post offices at East Bierley, Soothill and at Bradford Road in Batley open and is hoping local residents will get behind the campaigns.
Separate public meetings will be held for local residents on Thursday at Batley and on Friday at East Bierley.
Mike Wood said: “Batley and Spen has not seen the level of closures up to now that other areas have seen. This is because local postmasters and I have been vigilant and we have worked together to protect the local network.
“However, this latest round is not about voluntary closures it is about targeting the less viable post offices in the network – those that serve the fewest customers each week, that are the least profitable and that are in areas where there is an alternative branch.
“But the post offices at Soothill and Bradford Road in Batley and at East Bierley are valuable branches that serve distinct communities and I hope local residents will join me in a bid to save them.
“By working together over the last 10 years we have managed to keep our network reasonably in tact. We now face a different kind of battle but if we continue working together we can make the best case possible to maintain these amenities.”
Mr Wood added: “The proposed list has been compiled by Post Office Counters and the national federation of postmasters. The Government’s role in this is to provide what amounts to a redundancy package to postmasters and postmistresses.”
The Batley meeting will be at Soothill Community Centre on Thursday May 15 at 6.30pm. The East Bierley meeting will be at the First School on South View Road on Friday May 16 at 6.30pm. |
