But PO confirms two W12 branches will close
Two local post offices originally slated for closure have been saved, the Post Office has announced.
The Starch Green branch at 7 Kings Parade on Askew Road and the post office at 146 Shepherds Bush Road will both remain open, thanks to an active local campaign to keep them.
In making its decision, the Post Office said it had taken into account a number of the issues raised during the public consultation. It said it had decided against closing the Starch Green branch after finding out about local residents with special needs: “Pocklington Lodge for visually impaired people is very close to Starch Green Post Office and residents would face difficulties in reaching any other branch,” the PO said in a statement.
55-year-old Peter Sands, who lives at Pocklington Lodge in Rylett Road, said the decision would make a huge difference to his life: "This victory shows that residents matter. Being blind, I would have had a terrible problem getting to another post office. It allows me to live an independent life," he said.The Post Office said it had decided to retain the Shepherd’s Bush Road branch because of sheltered housing units nearby and because there were already several other closures in the vicinity.
However, Post Office Ltd. confirmed that the branches at 68 Askew Road and 88 Goldhawk Road would go, with the first closures scheduled to take place from June.
The two local branches to remain open are among seven across London that have been saved. In a third victory for the borough, the Kenyon Street branch in Fulham will also stay open.
Shepherd’s Bush MP, Andy Slaughter said it was an “extraordinary turnaround”. “This is a good result, especially in Shepherd's Bush and Hammersmith. It shows what the community can achieve by working together in a coordinated and organised way,” he said.
Hammersmith & Fulham Councillor Paul Bristow said the submission dossiers sent to the Post Office had been crucial: "With the help of local residents, we did our homework and presented Post Office Ltd with a dossier which they simply couldn’t argue with,” he said. “When we called them in for our public meeting on March 19, they confessed that they did not know about the fifty flats for blind and partially-sighted residents at Pocklington Lodge, near the Askew Road branch.”The Post Office’s final decision comes after a six-week public consultation which ended on 2 April. Post Office Ltd. said it had received 27,600 responses. "These are difficult decisions which have not been taken lightly,” the Post Office’s London Development Manager, Anita Turner, said. “We have considered very carefully all the comments made during the public consultation,” she said.
Yasmine Estaphanos
7 May 2008
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