Consultation or Window Dressing?
February 23rd, 2008The results are now in. It has taken just over two months for the consultation process to be completed as to the proposed closure of Lawn and Westcott Place Post Offices and the result is…they are to close. No surprises there, frankly. Despite our collections of hundreds of replies to our letter opposing the closures, despite the widespread public opposition and despite the strong feelings voiced by Lawn residents in a public meeting chaired by my colleague Cllr Mike Bawden, the Post Office have refused to change their minds. Elderly and vulnerable people in the Faringdon Park/Kingshill area will either have to walk into the town centre or over to Rodbourne, whilst residents in Lawn must go to Cavendish Square or to Victoria Road. Any pretence that the Post Office is offering a truly localised service is now gone, frankly.
The consultation process is just long enough to be immune from any judicial review, it would seem. My view is that it is nothing more than window dressing by the Post Office. The devil behind the curtain is, of course, the Government. It was Alistair Darling’s announcement in Spring 2007 that heralded the demise of thousands of sub-post offices.
These closures are nothing more than a manifestation of Labour policy. The current MP’s attempts to be seen as campaiging against the closures smack of double standards. As a member of the Government, there is one clear way in which she could demonstrate her dissatisfaction with this important Government policy, and that is by resigning as PPS to Ruth Kelly.
Far too often these days, we see Government members openly campaigning against Government policies. For example, remember Hazel Blears opposing the closure of a maternity unit in her constituency, even though the closure policy had been sanctioned by the Department of Health? It would seem that some people are trying to have the penny and the bun. From the comments about the closures that I have seen on the webpage of the Swindon Advertiser, this clear contradiction has not escaped the notice of local residents.
