Concerns about rural post offices raised on MP's summer tour

Local residents have been raising concerns about the future of rural post offices on MP Tim Farron's annual summer tour. Tim is visiting around 50 smaller towns and villages across the constituency as part of his summer tour, allowing him to visit some of the places which he doesn't normally reach with his regular advice surgeries.

Post Office Limited is in the process of conducting public consultations on the closure of thousands of post offices nationwide after the Government decided to slash the number of post offices across the country earlier this year. The consultation process will begin in Cumbria early in 2008. Meanwhile just one-in-four post offices have been told that they will be safe from closure.

Speaking from his summer tour Tim said: "Just two days into my 2007 tour it's clear that the main issue concerning local residents in villages across South Lakeland is the future of their village post office. Often the post office is the only business left in the village, and local residents rely on it not just for post office services, but as a centre to the community and often a village shop as well.

"It's vital that we secure the future of our rural post offices, and I am committed to fighting the closure of any post office in South Lakeland when the public consultation makes it to Cumbria in the New Year."