Derek Deedman

The County Council on14 December rejected the Liberal Democrat motion to call on the Government to:

*End the branch closure programme;

*Remove the Royal mail restrictions on the Post Office to open up furthrer business opportunities for the network;

*Stop removing government business from Post Offices;

*Carry out a review of which additional government functions could be carried out through Post Offices; and

*Invest in the Post Office network.

Lib Dem Morwen Millson, the Leader of the Opposition on West Sussex County Council, had introduced the motion which expressed concern at the Government’s intention to close 21 branch post offices in four districts in the County and reduce the hours of operation in a further two. This is on top of the 58 closures which took place in the County between 1999 and 2006 and the closures by previous Tory Governments.

The response from the Tory Councillors was to instead vote through their own very vague motion, which seemed to accept the Government’s long term intentions to run down the Post Office (no surprise as they would probably be doing the same if they were in government), and to just address the impact of the present closures on local communities (important though that is).

Although there are no proposed closures in Derek Deedman’s County Division, Upper Beeding and Small Dole Post Offices could well be under threat next time, unless the Liberal Democrats national policies on the Post Office, as expressed in the motion to the County Council, are adopted by Government. The County Council has missed a great opportunity to make the case for change to the Government.