Islington Tribune - News: Will Boris save Post Offices?

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Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 16 May 2008

Will Boris save post offices?

POST Office plans to close four branches in Islington could be overturned after Mayor of London Boris Johnson announced plans to intervene.
Last week, four branches – in Blackstock Road, Finsbury Park, Ferme Park Road, Stroud Green, and two in Caledonian Road – were named among those on a final hit-list, casting a shadow on news that Essex Road post office had won a reprieve.
Now, Mr Johnson has announced he is preparing to take the Post Office to the High Court. He has called for a review of the closures on the basis that they will disproportionately affect London and that the consultation period was too short.
Meanwhile, a row has broken out over whose responsibility it is to save Islington’s post offices from closure.
Labour MP Emily Thornberry and Town Hall Labour group leader Councillor Catherine West are calling on Islington Council to step in and subsidise two of the condemned branches.
Ms Thornberry, MP for Islington South and Finsbury, claims Lib Dem council leader James Kempton is “burying his head in the sand” after he told the Tribune last week the Post Office had refused to meet him to discuss the fate of the condemned branches.
But, according to an email to the MP from the Post Office’s network director, “a meeting has not been requested”.
Ms Thornberry said: “If the Lib Dems are having problems arranging a meeting with the Post Office I’d be happy to help them set one up. However, I suspect all the Lib Dems need to do is pick up the phone. I don’t understand why they haven’t done so already.”
But Lib Dem deputy council leader Councillor Terry Stacy has blamed Labour for the closures. He said: “They have bulldozed this closure programme through despite 5,000 Islington residents saying they didn’t want their local post office closed.
“But the Labour government has ignored their views and local Labour politicians have stayed silent on the issue.”

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