14th September 2008

The Green Party expressed its delight at Cllr Paul Scriven’s announcement, made in the Star on Sat 13th Sept, that the Lib Dems will not boycott the Save Our Post Offices rally next Saturday. Cllr Bernard Little has also had a positive response to his request for a cross party working group on post offices. Last week Cllr Scriven sent him an email which said, “Like you I would like to build on what we can do together with the parties on the council. I am happy to pull together a meeting of three party representatives to discuss the cases of need being put together and see what all parties views are and how we should go forward.”

Cllr Bernard Little said, “It is good news that Cllr Scriven will not stop Lib Dem councillors from attending the demonstration on Saturday. I am also pleased that he has now set up a cross party working group. The consultation period set by Post Office Ltd ends on 22nd September but the campaign will not stop then. The Council must come up with a plan to maintain a network of post offices in the city which will take a lot of imagination, hard work and commitment.”

The first meeting of the cross party working group was scheduled to take place on Monday 15th September.

The demonstration, organised by SCAPOC - Sheffield Communities Against Post Office Closures - will take place Saturday 20th September. Assemble at Barkers Pool at 1.30pm. This is to allow Post Offices on the hit list to close for the day and postmasters and mistresses to get into town. There will be a short march in the city centre and people from the communities affected, Pensioners Action Groups, Trade Unionists, Disability Groups, and local politicians are expected to attend.

ENDS