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5,000 sign up to fight closures
WITH just one day to go to the Post Office consultation deadline, the Mail campaign to save threatened branches in the area has hit the 5,000 signature mark.
The landmark figure was reached in just a couple of months after the Mail revealed a number of branches faced closure under Post Office plans to slash mounting debts of around 200million.
Petition forms were placed around the town and readers were urged to lend their support online.
Today is your last chance to throw your weight behind the fight to save the threatened post offices.
Hartlepool Mayor Stuart Drummond will post off the collected signatures in the hope that they will help sway the minds of Post Office bosses who have said they have yet to issue a definitive list of which branches will close.
Young and old joined the fight to save the threatened branches with people aged between 19 and more than 90 lending their support both in print and online.
Mail deputy editor Gavin Foster said: "We are thrilled by the response of our readers to this campaign.
"It shows the true strength of feeling against Post Office closures."
The number of signatures was swelled by Army veteran Allan Barclay, who collected more than 1,000 signatures as part of his personal crusade to save his local post office from closing.
Allan, who was medically discharged from the Army after more than 25 years service, has been gathering support from councillors and residents to save the Elwick Road post office.
Elwick Road, Raby Estate post office, in Chatham Road, and Hart post office, in Hart village, are all earmarked for closure.
Hutton Henry Post Office, in Front Street, Hutton Henry, and two in Billingham, the Cowpen Estate, in Cowpen Lane, and Wolviston Court, in Clifton Avenue, are also on the proposed closure list.
The Post Office is currently undergoing a re-structuring process which will see 2,500 offices close in a bid to cut losses that topped 200m last year.
Mr Barclay, 54, of Leyburn Street, Hartlepool, said: "In the end, I managed to get 1,100 signatures, which was a lot better than I thought it would be.
"I wanted to target people who use the post office because it is important to show the consultation team the numbers of people that come here.
"I still can't see why they want to close this one."
"The last thing I want to see is this post office, or any other in the town, close."Town pensioner Bill Sunley collected more than 1,000 signatures by spending hours trawling round the local care and residential homes and he was quick to offer advice to Allan.
Mr Barclay said: "Mr Sunley gave me a lot of advice and useful tips and it worked out really well with both us of collecting more than 1,000 signatures from different people.
"I think we did really well, especially considering how short the consultation process is.
"It really should be far longer because six weeks simply isn't enough.
"A lot of people have turned round and said to me 'what's the point in trying to save them because they will close anyway' but I'm trying to show them that we can make a difference."
Hartlepool Borough Council's scrutiny committee said the loss of any of the branches would be a severe blow.
For the past couple of months the scrutiny co-ordinating committee has been looking at the impact the closures would have.
Its finding will form part of the council's formal response to the Post Office's consultation team. The committee examined deprivation levels, car ownership, bus routes, population levels and the percentage of people with access to bank accounts.
Councillor Marjorie James, chair of the scrutiny co-ordinating committee, compiled the scrutiny committee's formal response.
In the report she said: "The three post offices proposed for closure provide an essential service to their communities and for many.
"Post offices are a lifeline and without them many thousands of people will become increasingly isolated."
"Should the proposed closures go ahead, many people will, in one way or another, experience real genuine hardship."
The proposed closures in Hartlepool come under the area plan for Cleveland, South Durham and Richmond.
The Mail tried to arrange to hand over the petition forms to Post Office area management.
But we were told it could not be arranged and that the completed forms had to be posted as part of the official consultation process.
There is still time to lend your support by emailing mail.news@northeast-press.co.uk
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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