Livingstone Rejects Post Office Closures.

[NEWS]

MAYOR WATCH

Ken Livingstone yesterday clashed with the Government over plans to close 2500 Post Offices across the UK including in the capital.

The Mayor said instead of closing branches the Post Office network needed "greater investment". Mr Livingstone said the closure of a quarter of London’s Post Offices between 2003 and 2006 had already had a disproportionate effect on the capital compared to the rest of the UK.

He has also rejected proposals to change the rules from the current requirements that there must be a Post Office within half a mile of 90 per cent of Londoners, the Government has proposed doubling this to one mile.

Mr Livingstone said "it is good that the Government has moved towards protecting urban deprived areas, which is a real priority for us. However people should be able to walk their local Post Office and these proposals still mean Londoners will have to travel further to their local Post Offices."

Calling for an increase in the number of branches in the capital Mayor Livingstone said "With London’s population projected to increase by 800,000 between now and 2016, we need more Post Offices in the capital, not widespread cuts and more closures."

[bigjames]

I am sure Alan Cook would agree to opening more Post Offices if Red Ken was to provide the subsidy to keep them open. If we have to run at a profit then something has to give, and a situation where you can walk out of one branch and see the next one further up the road is surely not viable. Of course if Ken did agree to pay for his own Post Offices the money would obviously have to come from London Council Tax payers, or maybe an increase in the congestion charge!