Petitions – in the House of Commons at 8:15 pm on 17 December 2007.
Tim Loughton
Shadow Minister (Children)
8:15,
17 December 2007
I have pleasure in presenting a substantial petition that has been signed by no fewer than 5,002 residents of Worthing and Adur in West Sussex on the subject of local post offices. The petition appears under the title "Local People need Local Post Offices". I will shortly have the fortune to speak on this subject in a little more detail in the Adjournment Debate. Such a substantial number of signatures has been raised in the space of just a few weeks.
The petition states:
The Petition of Post Office Users of Worthing and Adur,
Declares that the closures proposed by the Post Office Ltd (POL) to nine post offices located in Worthing and Adur in West Sussex, which come on top of previous substantial closures and are the most severe changes suggested in the whole of Sussex, are not in the best interests of local residents many of whom are elderly and are unable to travel the increased long distances that closures will entail, local shops who rely on Post Offices to encourage local business or indeed the local community as a whole which already experiences long queues for access to post offices.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges Her Majesty's Government to, as a matter of urgent public importance, instruct the Royal Mail Group to suspend this closure programme and redefine the criteria on which closures are being proposed with regard to the hardship it will cause communities with high levels of elderly people and deprivation and poor public transport links in particular.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.
[P000087]
The petitioners have very kindly attached a piece of festive tinsel to their petition.
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