MP hits out at Portsmouth Post Office closures

09/01/2008

Local MP, Mike Hancock (Lib Dem – Portsmouth South) has reacted angrily today to the news that the Post Office has today confirmed that the branches in Francis Avenue and East Southsea will close. This follows 8 previous closures. In 2003 six branches in South Portsmouth were closed - Old Portsmouth (Broad Street), Fawcett Road, Highland Road, 4, Albert Road, Winter Road and Milton Road and a few years before that Langstone Road and Castle Road branches were closed. With the latest closures, it will mean that more than half – 10 out of 17 local post offices will have closed.

Mike Hancock said: “When the Post Office previously closed local branches, they highlighted the branches they are now closing as ones that local people could go to that were nearby. For example when they closed the Winter Road Post Office, they said that people could go to the Francis Avenue branch which was relatively nearby but they are now closing the Francis Avenue branch. It now means that a large number of people will be without a local Post Office that is at all near to them and it will mean that they have a long walk or journey to their nearest post office.

“Local Post Offices are the heart of our communities in Portsmouth and this will rip the heart of them. Many pensioners and residents rely on their local post offices. The Government are the sole shareholders in the Post Office and they should have acted to protect them. The Government could have invested in the Post Office and made them centres for advice on Government services and benefits as was outlined by the report from then Prime Minister, Tony Blair’s Performance and Innovation Unit. I am disappointed, disgusted and angry that the Post Office have gone ahead with these closures. Even at this eleventh hour, they should reconsider them as the proposed closures are very detrimental to local communities in Portsmouth”