Post Office closure inquiry planned

8:00am Thursday 21st August 2008

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An inquiry is being launched into Post Office closures earlier this year which included 11 on the Fylde coast.

The National Audit Office will look at the effect on vulnerable people and whether new outreach services have done anything to fill the void after the services closed.

The Government's decision to axe the post offices led to a concerted protest campaign by several local user groups, however, only one was given a reprieve, Warton Street in Lytham.

Campaigners welcomed the investigation, but stressed that for many offices, including those in Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde it could be a case of too little too late.

Jim Latham, of Communities Against Post Office Closures, said: “I hope this report underlines the badly thought out, impossible conditions the Government has put on this programme.”

The investigation will focus on the criteria set for the closures by the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, formerly the Department of Trade and Industry.

The report will be examined by Parliament in 2009.