Monday 24 December 2007

Closure could be "a death knell" for town


Creighton Lewis, Advisor to the National Public Health Service and to the Association of Optometrists in London, lives 100 yards from the post office. When I spoke to him in December he made some very powerful points on the effects possible closure will have on transport, the business community and the town's old people too.

Here's what he said in full.

"I was absolutely disgusted when I heard about the proposed closure.

"The post office is a service which is paid for by taxes for the convenience of the people. It's not supposed to be a profit-making business at all no more than any of the other services, like the health service.

"Nobody says the Health Service doesn't make a profit - we have to have it. It's the same with the post office - we have to have it for the convenience of the town people.

"The whole point is the people who make the decision to close down the post offices are faceless.

"Really it comes down to the Prime Minister and the Government of this country because it is, after all, paid for by our taxes.

"I've written to the Prime Minister and if I could speak to him I would say that this is a service that we need in our community mostly for the elderly people, particularly in the old people's home, for the business people here in the town who are trying to build this town up and for those of us who are trying to run businesses from home.

"So it's an essential service. It's not something you can do away with and say: 'But, ah, you've got a post office a mile or so away down the road.'

"The number of people who won't be able to make use of that facility is tremendous.

"Personally I use the post office in Llantrisant on a daily basis and I see a lot of other people who do, too.

"I work as an Advisor to the National Public Health Service and to the Association of Optometrists in London and I work from home which means I receive legal documents and so on through the post.

"I have to send these back with high security through the local post office. This means that even though I've got a car and can go to different places it will be very inconvenient for me should the post office close down.

"At the moment I'm just a hundred yards from it but before long I may be a mile-and-a-half from my post office. I, and others, may lose valuable time and incur costs because of the proposed closure.

"For people who can't drive or catch the bus the nearest post office to here, going by taxi, is anything between £6-£8. For an old age pensioner that's a huge amount of money, a huge amount of money.

"This town wasn't built for transport, most people have cars which blocks up the streets. The bus is supposed to go round the side streets, down to the old age complex, back around and up on its way out - but that's only in the mornings anyway. But the bus can't get to the old age home where there are many elderly people so they don't have an alternative other than a taxi which is going to be awfully expensive.

"The post office is a pivotal part of the community. You've seen how busy it is this morning, people in and out, we all know each other, it's a gathering place where we can meet people we can turn to.

"Colin is an excellent Postmaster. He does far more than just dish out stamps and do the post, he's an essential part of the community.

"But the community itself is struggling particularly with the building of the large stores down the road in fact the town itself would die but for the businesses that have been developed here, the post office is an essential part of that.

"So we in the community are worried that by removing the post office it's another death knell as far as the town is concerned."

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