Council drops its PO closures fight (From South Wales Guardian)

Council drops its PO closures fight

6:20am Tuesday 23rd December 2008 in News

CARMARTHENSHIRE County Council has dropped its legal fight against plans to close 24 post offices after an agreement was reached to offer some replacement services.

Post Office Ltd. has agreed a partnership arrangement for Dryslwyn.

Now the local authority has decided to withdraw an application for a judicial review of the closures.

Post Office Ltd. said it was pleased with the decision. More talks will now be held on providing other services.

Carmarthenshire council’s executive board member for regeneration, Clive Scourfield, said: “We understood all along the difficult position in which the Post Office found themselves.

“We felt we owed it to our local communities to do everything in our power to oppose the scale of closures proposed locally.

“We were particularly concerned at the impact of closures in some of the more rural areas which would mean the loss of the only remaining shop for several miles around.”

Discussions will take place with the Post Office regarding a number of shops, some of them community-owned, which may be able to continue to provide post office services.

Sue Huggins, programme director for Post Office Limited, said: “We are very pleased that Carmarthenshire council has decided to withdraw its claim for a judicial review.

“Post Office Ltd. implemented the Network Change programme in line with the criteria set by the UK government and undertook extensive research before arriving at our decisions.

“Whilst such decisions were difficult, they were necessary to help us to place our network of post offices on a viable and stable footing.”

Local MP Adam Price, who was involved in the talks, said: “While we would all have liked to have saved more branches, I think this is the best that could be hoped for in the circumstances.”