When I was elected in 2005, I promised to do all I could to protect rural services. Now we face an emergency. Our local Post Offices need your support in fighting to preserve them from closure.

In the last nine years, nineteen local Post Offices have been closed as part of a nationwide cost-cutting programme. Now, Post Office Ltd wants to close 20 more. 5 Post Offices are proposed for complete closure. They are:

• East the Water
• Ford St, Tavistock
• Peter Tavy Mobile Post Office
• Sampford Courtenay
• Sutcombe

Post Office Ltd want to replace 15 Post Offices more with an ‘outreach’ service, meaning a Mobile Post Office or a restricted service with limited opening hours. They are:

• Ashreigney
• Ashwater
• Bridestowe
• Bridgerule
• Buckland Brewer
• Chillaton
• Clovelly
• Langtree
• Lewdown
• Meeth
• Milton Abbot
• Northlew
• Postbridge
• Shebbear
• St Giles on the Heath

Click here to download "Post Office Network Change Programme Proposal (pdf).

Now that the plans have been announced, there will be a six-week period where the people are invited to give their view of the closure proposals.

The consultation process has now finished. Click here to download my response to the consultation proposals.

I think that the closure programme is misguided and that the Government fails to understand the importance of the Post Office to the local community. We all know how vital the Post Offices of Devon are. The consultation process is too short and flawed, but nonetheless it is the best way for people to show their support for their local branch.

I want to give people as much help as possible in making the case to save their local Post Office. I hope you will join me in campaigning to safeguard this vital local service.

Closures at a Glance

Click on your Post Office to register your views

View Larger Map

What can you do?

Between May 20th and July 1st public consultation will be open; your views can make a difference, so make sure that Post Office Ltd knows what you think. You can:

Write to: National Consultation Team, Post Office Ltd, FREEPOST

Telephone: 08457 22 33 44

E-mail: consultation@postoffice.co.uk.

Contact: the consultation team using the link below.

The more people reply to the consultation, the more importance the regulator Postwatch will place on these views.

As well as making your voice heard in the consultation, you can support your local Post Office in other ways. Display posters in your window, use your branch as much as possible to underline how vital it is, sign petitions, write to your local newspaper, anything that shows the strength of feeling for our local Post Offices.

For more information on the closure plans, their impact, the process and what you can do to help, download our information pack here. You can also download sample leaflets to print out and make as many people as possible aware of the threat to our Post Offices.

Consultation Process

The Consultation process has already begun. Post Office Ltd spent two months taking to bodies such as the regulator, Postwatch, and Local authorities. Now this is complete, an ‘area plan’ was produced with the closure proposals. This can be found here.

Once Post Office Ltd publishes its list of the planned closures it invites comment from the public on them. The Public Consultation begins on May 20th and will last six weeks. This means it will end on July 1st.

After the six-week public consultation process ends, the third stage begins; there will be a four week period where the consultation is taken into account and Postwatch is able to raise with Post Office Ltd issues relating to specific branches. This is where public support for a local Post Office can make a real difference.

Once this final period expires, an announcement will be made on whether the consultation has raised points that require the plan to be modified. All closures must take place a month after this announcement at the latest.

Consultation Timetable

Send your response to the Consultation

Click here to link directly to the Post Office website consultation page.