We’ll be second class citizens

Aug 7 2008 by Our Correspondent, North Wales Weekly News

Royal Mail plans to axe 52 post offices in North Wales come under fire.

WHILE accepting other areas have their justified gripe, the proposed closure of the post office on Llandudno Road, Rhos-on-Sea, will lead to consequences bordering on chaos.

It will mean all postal traffic will in future head to Penrhyn Bay where parking facilities can be measured on a postage stamp or into Rhos village where parking is a free-for-all battle.

Add to this the increased traffic flow and additional fuel consumption and any environmental concerns are kicked into touch.

A further spin-off will mean bottleneck queues and frustrating delays, not to overlook the social consequences felt by the elderly for whom the trip to the local office offers both an incentive to be mobile as well as a welcome venue to meet.

Cllr ROGER PARRY

Rhos Ward

I OBJECT strongly to the closure of Llandudno Junction post office.

We have already had one post office closed at Pentwyn Road and although we have an alternative within a mile, it is accessed by a very steep hill.

Most of our residents are elderly and some are disabled. Many do not have bank accounts and use this branch to bank and pay bills.

This post office is the only one in the town where you can buy car tax and it is close to two supermarkets so some people without transport cash their money and shop in one trip.

Cllr MIKE PRIESTLEY

Llandudno Junction

MANY villages will lose an integral part of the community structure and it is the elderly and vulnerable who will be hardest hit.

The closure of post offices means people often have to travel quite a distance, causing great inconvenience.

Losing a local post office will leave the elderly and those with limited mobility feeling isolated.

With small rural schools closing, pubs in decline and post offices disappearing I fear for rural communities across North Wales.

ELEANOR BURNHAM

North Wales AM

MANY people rely on post offices for essential services.

In small communities in Snowdonia National Park the proposed programme of downgrading and withdrawal of services will have serious consequences.

In many villages there is a single shop which relies on a range of income streams to stay open. The withdrawal of the post office facility may well cause complete closure.

Given the limited public transport in the rural communities in the National Park, this will inevitably result in a wholly avoidable rise in car mileage with all the negative environmental consequences that will bring.

ALUN PUGH

Director, Snowdonia Society