Petition to Save Oswestry Post Office hits 1,000 signatures as MP takes fight to Parliament

Helen Morgan MP’s petition to Save Oswestry Post Office has been signed by 1,000 concerned residents and businesses in under 24 hours.

The petition calls on residents to sign and express their ‘strong opposition to proposals to close Oswestry Post Office’, a move Helen Morgan has said would be a ‘devastating blow’ for Oswestry.

Currently, the crown branch on Willow Street is the only place in the Oswestry area which offers the full range of services to small businesses.

The MP has taken the fight to Parliament, raising the campaign to keep the Oswestry Post Office open with the Minister in an Urgent Questions session on the recent crown branch closure announcement.

The Minister stressed that ‘no decision has been taken’ yet, but confirmed that the Post Office would be moving ahead with plans to consult with a view to shutting crown branches.

Helen also held a meeting with the Post Office shortly afterwards, where she made clear the need for the Oswestry branch to stay open and also pressed for services to be kept in Cockshutt.

Residents can still sign Helen’s petition at: https://www.helenmorgan.org.uk/oswestry-postoffice.

Helen Morgan, MP for North Shropshire, asked the Minister, “Oswestry in my constituency is the second largest town in Shropshire and it serves a vast rural area stretching into Mid Wales and across North Shropshire, which is digitally excluded quite often because it doesn't have adequate mobile signal or broadband services. The full range of Crown Post Office services are absolutely essential.

“Can the Minister provide some assurance that the full range of Crown Post Office services will remain in Oswestry and that the Post Office will take into account the fact that it is so important to retain these vital services in rural areas which are being deserted by commercial organisations like banks?”

Gareth Thomas MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Services, Small Business and Exports, replied, “I absolutely am clear that we have, as a government, a continuing responsibility, which we recognise and accept, to make sure Post Office services are available to every community across the UK, that there is easy access to a Post Office branch in rural areas and in urban areas alike. And we remain committed to doing that. Absolutely.

“As I've said earlier, no decision has been taken on to close any individual directly managed branch. But it is right that the Post Office looks at all its costs if we're going to achieve an increase in sub postmaster pay going forward. And in that regard and her wider point, it's important that the Post Office management this time, because previous management teams haven't always done so, consults properly with sub postmasters, with trade unions and with other stakeholders.”