Stand and deliver
by Hammersmith and Fulham Press Office
08/09/2006
Council calls emergency meeting to discuss Post Office closure.
Hammersmith & Fulham Council is taking a stand against the closure of Hammersmith Broadway Post Office after, it says, the views of residents were ignored in a public consultation.
The council will host an emergency meeting, before full council on September 20, so that residents can air their views once and for all. A petition has also been started and councillors will vote on a resolution later in the evening.
The council’s move was prompted after the Post Office ploughed on with their original plan to scrap vital local services despite stiff opposition from outraged residents, commuters and disability groups. 
Following a brief public consultation, which has been criticised for not being wide enough, the Post Office announced that 10 counter positions at the Hammersmith Broadway Centre would be downsized to five and incorporated into the WH Smith store in King Street. The relocation means lay-offs as well as longer queues for Hammersmith & Fulham residents.
Council leader, Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh, said, "The consultation was a sham and this public meeting will allow the true feelings of local residents to be heard.”
Kamran Mallick, from Hammersmith & Fulham Action on Disability (HAFAD), backed the council’s stance saying, “The Post Office didn’t bother to tell us about the consultation and we’re very concerned about the impact the closure will have on disabled people.”
This latest blow to local post offices and foul up with the consultation comes hot on the heels of branch closures at the Crown Post Office on North End Road and smaller outlets on Blythe Road and Brackenbury Road.
Cllr Greenhalgh continues, “The Post Office is trying to hold residents to ransom by saying that the relocation of services is necessary to halt more closures. This is rich considering we’ve have three branches shut in the last couple of years.”
Some residents have already made their views public by emailing shareyourviews@lbhf.gov.uk. A selection of views appears on the council’s website www.lbhf.gov.uk/shareyourviews and residents who cannot make the public meeting are encouraged to continue emailing with their views.
Please download the PDF version of the petition and share with other residents. When you have lots of signatures, please return to Communications, Hammersmith Town Hall, W6 9JU.
Hammersmith resident and post office regular Emily Paschol says, “Hammersmith Broadway Post Office is so handy where it is, right near the buses and trains. They shouldn’t move it away from the transport links. I’ve just left the queue as it was so long. They should be opening more post offices, not shutting them down.”
Representatives from the Post Office and Postwatch, the body set up to represent the interests of post office customers, have been invited to the meeting which is open to everyone.
Cllr Greenhalgh concludes, “The Post Office rubber stamped their original plan with no more than a nod and a wink to the views of residents. This meeting will expose the consultation for the sham it was.”
The meeting starts at 5.30pm in Hammersmith town hall on Wednesday 20 September.
