MP promises to fight on to defend post offices

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron has released the following statement following the announcement of post office closures in South Lakeland:

"Local people in Beetham, Backbarrow and Greenodd and other communities have fought fantastic campaigns, they have been badly let down by Post Office Ltd. The Government has deliberately closed off all formal routes of appeal and is stating that these decisions are now final. But I am I'm in no mood to give up, so I have spoken already with the Ombudsman, and with Postwatch to pursue the possibility of appeal. I have also spoken to local campaigners and the post mistresses at Greenodd and Beetham about the possibility of legal action.

"In the case of Greenodd, for example, the consultation was clearly flawed because Post Office Ltd didn't provide any details of the proposed outreach facility that would replace the post office - so how could any body responding to the consultation do so in an informed way? Likewise, at both Greenodd and Beetham, Post Office Ltd based their decision on population figures that were serious underestimates of the real figures. In the case of Greenodd, PO Ltd did not make available their formal reasons for proposing closure on business grounds, as a result it was impossible to refute those reasons. The closure of vital services such as these should not be happening, but they certainly should not be happening as a result of a shoddy and inadequate consultation process. It's another example of local people being consulted...but not listened to!

"I want to pay tribute to local postmistresses and postmasters and all their staff, and to the thousands of local people who have thrown themselves into this campaign. It is heartbreaking for so many of us to be let down in this way, but it is so important that we do not give up. We have saved 40 of our local post offices, which is a major achievement but it is no consolation to those post offices that the Government has chosen to abandon in this way."