Brooks condemns post office closures in consultation response

Brooks Newmark has made his formal submission to Post Office Ltd. on behalf of all those who would be seriously affected by the proposed closures. Braintree MP Brooks Newmark has made his formal submission to Post Office Ltd. on behalf of all those who would be seriously affected by the proposed closures. He has objected to each of the three proposed closures, in White Notley, Bocking Church Street and Panfield Lane.

In his Parliamentary newsletter Brooks has encouraged every one of his constituents to contribute to the public consultation in order to preserve threatened local branches. In his own submission to the consultation Mr. Newmark wrote, "I wish to state my emphatic opposition to proposed closure of the post office branches at White Notley, Panfield Lane and Bocking Church Street within my Parliamentary constituency. I have received a large number of representations from constituents of mine who feel that the threatened branches ought to be preserved and I write on behalf of all those who would be adversely affected by the proposals.

I believe that mistakes have been made and, consequently, that there is a compelling argument in favour of retaining each of the threatened branches. Moreover, I believe that the argument for reconsidering your decision has a strong evidential rather than an emotional basis."

Brooks is concerned that elderly residents of White Notley will be effectively disenfranchised from post office services if the branch there is lost, writing that, "For my constituents to walk to Black Notley or Silver End is simply out of the question and I invite you to walk the route with me so that you may gain a better understanding of the difficulty involved."

Brooks has also objected to the closure of branches in Panfield Lane and Bocking Church Street, writing that, "I must again emphasise that the loss of both branches will leave a large swathe of Bocking and Braintree without a branch and that displacing customers from both branches to the centre of Braintree will leave the elderly and those lacking private transport with, at the very least, a challenging journey."

His letter concludes that "Although I understand that Post Office Ltd. has been forced into this decision making process by the Government and that disappointment is the inevitable result for some, I hope that residents in my constituency will continue to benefit in full from the Post Office's public service obligation to them."

Click here to download Brooks' letter to the Post Office (pdf: 698k).