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'Hypocrisy' over post office issue
Seaford town councillor Jon Freeman has accused the Post Office of 'rank hypocrisy' after plans to discuss the future of a Seaford branch were left in 'limbo' because vital information was not available.
More than 50 post office branches in Sussex face the axe after government closures were announced, including the facility in Claremont Road and Fairways in Newick Close, Seaford.
Both post offices closed last month but the shops remain open to the local community.
Since then Lewes District Council chiefs entered into talks with Post Office Ltd to try to save the Claremont Road branch and the one in Landport, Lewes, through a community buyout scheme.
The proposals were due to be discussed in secret at a meeting of the council's post office closure sub-committee last week but the group was not sent the figures they were expecting.
Cllr Freeman, deputy leader of Lewes District Council, said they had met with the Post Office in 'good faith' on February 14 to express their intention to keep the two branches open.
He said, "We waited for this study and when we got the study it was on two post offices that we were not discussing and they will not give us the information on the facilities we are interested in such as Claremont Road.
"There is a lot of rank hypocrisy going on. There are MPs claiming to be against post office closures in their areas who then voted against proposals to keep them open."
Last week MPs in the House of Commons voted narrowly against a Conservative proposal to reverse the decision to axe 2,500 branches nationwide, including the Claremont Road and Fairways facilities.
Angie Hindocha has run the Claremont Road branch alongside her newsagents for 20 years.
Cllr Freeman said the idea to save the threatened branch would be that Lewes District Council acts as an agent, with Angie still running the post office.
He added, "What we decided at the meeting was to go to the top of the Post Office and fix a meeting with the Post Office Minister.
"To say I'm angry would be an understatement. I think it's been a shambles."
Councillor Tony Nicholson, who is a member of the sub-committee, added, "What I deduce from it all is that the three post offices that they are not prepared to negotiate on are Claremont Road, Landport and Denton. The reason for that is because they are doing so well that if they remain open they would prejudice the main post offices in those areas.
"This seems rather perverse to me. I have been told by people that there have been queues forming outside the main post office (Church Street) in Seaford."
A spokesman for the Royal Mail Press Office said, "Post Office Ltd has been asked by the government to look at how best to respond to serious expressions of interest from stakeholders, including local authorities and community groups, in providing funding for Post Office services for a particular community.
"We are now developing a framework through which we can develop a dialogue with groups or authorities who have a serious proposal to put forward.
"Post Office Ltd is, of course, very willing to work with such groups or bodies, but any proposals will need to demonstrate ability to provide premises, staff to manage the provision of services and, crucially, sufficient funding to cover any ' one off ' set up costs of the operation and the ongoing fixed costs until at least March 2011.
"We also have to consider potential effects on other Post Offices in the area as we cannot endanger those businesses."
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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