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Actor Tom Conti and TV presenter Gail Porter join the campaigners |
Re-open our post office now!
Tom and Gail join protest to open post office
ONE hundred residents were joined by actor Tom Conti and TV presenter Gail Porter on Saturday to demand that the Post Office keep its promises to people in Belsize Park.
The Belsize Post Office Action Group marched to demonstrate in Haverstock Hill, calling for the re-opening of branches there and in Belsize village.
They called on Post Office bosses to meet their pledge to reopen Haverstock Hill sub-office, made when it was ‘temporarily closed’ two years ago.
They also demanded that Belsize Village branch, which fell to the nationwide programme of cuts in June, be reinstated.
Poet Alan Brownjohn, a march organiser, told demonstrators: “We are here to demand that our two closed post office branches be re-opened.
“You are part of a rising tide of popular protest by sub-postmasters and the four million who signed their petition – and it’s having an effect on what the media are saying.”
Fellow organiser Gene Adams, chairwoman of the Belsize Conservation Area Advisory Committee (CAAC) said the meeting was intended to send a message.
She said: “We want to let them know that this issue is sill alive and kicking and that we intend to keep on nagging them.”
A Post Office spokesman said: “We remain committed to reopening a Post Office in Belsize Park but this depends on finding the right person who has both a viable business plan and suitable premises.”
Cuts to urban and suburban post offices have continued since Belsize Village fell, however, with some campaigners predicting that 7,000 will be axed as the programme continues.
Yesterday (Wednesday) Prime Minister Tony Blair revealed a lack of sympathy with protesters, reportedly saying: “You cannot get round the simple fact that four million fewer people are using the post office to transact their business than a few years ago." |
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