WOKINGHAM MP Sir John Redwood held a meeting with Post Office bosses last week in a bid to save the Broad Street branch.
He was joined for the meeting by borough councillors and, in a blogpost after the meeting, he said that he emphasised the united front of political parties and the public over the proposals.
He said: “I explained to the Post Office that all three main parties represented at the Council – Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrats – were united in opposing the plan to close the existing Post Office counters.
“Our joint opposition reflected a substantial body of opinion in the Town that did not want to see the closure, and had been well represented in the petition which they had seen.
“It was also clear from reports of the consultation held on Monday evening – when I had to be voting in Parliament – that the respondents were critical of the plan and wished to query the whole idea of closure.”
Sir John added that with Wokingham borough growing in population size as a result of the increased housing numbers, the Post Office was an essential service.
He argued that the existing site could accommodate that increase need, something that the WHSmith kiosk couldn’t do.
“The present building would allow them to open further counters to deal with demand, whilst the proposal to have just three counters in WHSmith looks as if it threatens more queues and inadequate capacity,” he wrote.
“There are worries about access for pushchairs and wheelchairs through the Smiths store to get to the Post Office at the back.”
The consultation closed on Wednesday. Last week, we revealed that the Post Office expects to open the WHSmith kiosk in June and had already drawn up detailed plans for the revamped store, which would include automatic doors.
A spokesperson for the Post Office said last week: “It is true that we are not consulting on principle of franchising a branch, as this is a commercial decision – and we believe it is the right one in order to sustain Post Office services in communities for the long term; however, that does not mean that any final decisions have been made.”
