Press bid to save urban and rural post offices

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by HoldtheFrontPage Staff Published 25 Jun 2007

The Western Daily Press has launched a major campaign demanding urgent Government action to protect the future of post offices.

With branches facing the chop as services and funding are axed, the paper fears that a “great British institution” is in real danger of sliding into ruin.

The campaign, Don’t Sound The Last Post, aims to reverse the decline of both rural and urban post offices.

The Daily Press is calling for readers to help stop the rot – and tell the Government they want to save the cornerstone of British life by signing a petition.

It is asking the Government to:

Reverse the decision to take away TV licences and other services from post offices;

Keep the £150m Social Network Payment made to subsidise rural post offices;

Keep the Post Office Card Account for the payment of pensions and benefits or provide an alternative;

Invest more money in the post office network.

Editor Andy Wright said: “We’ve been running a series, Serves You Right, aimed at persuading readers to recommend local shops as a way of helping small independent retailers, and post offices were by far the most recommended service.

“It brought home just how important the post office is, particularly to rural communities, and made us determined to fight to retain the services which remain.”

An award-winning WDP campaign to stop the deterioration of post office services in 1999 resulted in 3m signatures being presented to the Government and, among other things, persuaded it to set up the Post Office Card Account, which it is now threatening to axe.

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