Protests at closure (From Penarth Times)

Protests at closure

NEWS that three Penarth post offices are set to shut has sparked a storm of protest.

But it has also started a big political row in the town, with Conservatives and Plaid Cymru accusing Labour of hypocrisy.

The local Labour party launched a petition in Windsor Road last weekend to protest at the closures.

Last week, the Penarth Times reported how Labour AM Lorraine Barrett is asking the Post Office to look again at the impact of the closures on the community.

But Dianne Rees, prospective Conservative AM for Cardiff South and Penarth, said:

"Where was Lorraine Barrett when a party of campaigners, including two Penarth postmasters, accompanied me to the Assembly to present the bundle of signatures to Minister for Finance and Communities? " "In three weeks last June, Penarth Conservatives, battling to save post offices from closure, collected 5,000 signatures to petition the Labour government in Westminster and the Welsh Assembly Government."

"While the Labour-Lib-Dem government in the Bay have introduced some measures to aid post offices in rural and deprived communities, they do not consider it necessary to look after the community of Penarth.

"It is sheer hypocrisy of the Penarth Labour Party to now decide to enter a "vote damage limitation process" of concern for the community when it is their party in Government which has engineered changes resulting in the closures."

Plaid Cymru AM candidate for Penarth, Richard Grigg, said: "I'm glad that at last the Penarth Labour Party and I agree on matters of policy, namely that the sub-post offices in Penarth need to be kept open.

"It is ironic in particular that just as the Vale of Glamorgan Council announces its scheme to build up to 400 houses immediately adjacent to Queen's Road sub-post office, the Post Office announces closure."

He added: "It is noteworthy, however, that Lorraine Barrett does not go as far as to condemn the closure, but merely calls for 'further consideration' in the front page story on January 30 of the Penarth Times."