Tory backlash over ‘misleading’ North Tyneside Post Office leaflets

Two post offices in North Tyneside have complained about Tory leaflets which bring their future in to question

Local Conservatives have been accused of misleading communities over the future of two post offices in North Tyneside. Post office workers have rebuked party leaflets distributed in Forest Hall and Palmersville touting possible closures.

The Conservative Party leaflets, critiquing the Government’s open consultation on the future of the postal service, have sparked the ire of two North Tyneside post offices. The leaflet, featuring local Tory group leader councillor Liam Bones, reads: “Palmersville and Forest Hall’s post office could be shut down completely. For the elderly and vulnerable who depend on it for pensions, parcels and family essentials, this would be devastating.”

However, Mollie Nugent, the assistant manager at Nugent News, on Meadowfield Terrace, took to Facebook to deny the shop was closing. Ms Nugent went on to state: “Firstly, I applaud your generous use of ‘could’ in the statements. It does a great job of providing you an outlet when criticised about the insinuations you make.”

When asked if the Forest Hall post office was in danger of closure, owner Kiran Kaur said: “Absolutely not, we are newly opened. We opened in January and people are really pleased that they have a post office in the area.”

The Government’s consultation is currently seeking views on three possibilities for the future of post offices. These include:

• Maintain the Government’s existing requirements including the 11,500 minimum branch requirement and the geographical Access Criteria
• Maintain the requirement for most of the population to live within three miles of a post office but remove the overall minimum branch requirement
• Develop new requirements in place of the existing criteria designed to target local areas with insufficient service provision

Coun Bones said: “Labour’s national consultation puts every post office in the country at risk – it is written in black and white in Labour’s own Green Paper. They are consulting on scrapping the guarantee that protects the size of the post office network, and if that goes, no local branch is safe – including Palmersville and Forest Hall.”

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