HUME LEADS FIGHT TO SAVE BAIRD AVENUE POST OFFICE IN KILWINNING (Jim Hume)

HUME LEADS FIGHT TO SAVE BAIRD AVENUE POST OFFICE IN KILWINNING

August 26, 2008 12:00 AM

Jim Hume, MSP for the South of Scotland, and Councillor for Kilwinning, Andrew Chamberlain, are today urging constituents to help in the fight to save Baird Avenue Post Office in Kilwinning.

Jim Hume MSP said:

"The UK Government has already closed 4,000 Post Offices on top of the 3,500 closed under the Conservatives.

"Liberal Democrats have long fought for the retention of post office branches because they often provide vital services for communities. I've spent the summer collecting signatures on our petition and it's clear that people value their local post offices and want to see them kept in their towns and villages.

"Ministers and Post Office officials argue that certain post offices are financially unsustainable - this hugely overlooks the community role played by local branches."

Cllr Andrew Chamberlain added:

"The consultation period for Baird Avenue Post Office ends on Monday the first of September. I would urge everyone who lives in the Woodwynd, or who uses the Post Office or the shop that it's in, to send their responses to Post Office Ltd while there's still time. If Baird Avenue Post Office is closed the queues in the Main Street Office will get even longer than they are already and the parking around the Main Street will end up under even more pressure. The result is that people throughout Kilwinning will find it more difficult than ever before to access the services that the Post Office provides. At the same time business will be diverted away from the Spar shop in the Woodwynd potentially threatening the only shop in the area with closure.

"At the same time, like Liberal Democrats up and down the country, we have been running a petition against the closure of Baird Avenue Post Office. This will be sent to 10 Downing Street to join the 50000 signatures that my party has already gathered in opposition to the government's programme of closures. If Baird Avenue is to be saved then the vital thing is for each of us to respond to the consultation by Monday. If it is to be safeguarded for the future then the government must be persuaded to invest in the Post Office network instead of running it down. Our petition is designed to put pressure on the government to do just that."

ENDS

Notes to Editors