Rory Stewart, MP for Penrith and The Border, has launched a petition to save Penrith Post Office from its planned closure.
The Post Office management is currently planning to relocate its Penrith operation from a standalone site on Crown Square to the WH Smith on Angel Square. A consultation has been launched, to gauge the community’s opinion on this, with many raising their concerns about the space selected.
Mr Stewart, who has championed the importance of rural post offices since his election in 2010, declared himself opposed to these plans when they were announced and met with Post Office representatives on Friday to voice the community’s concerns. After this meeting, he launched a petition to save the Post Office, which, since going live, has received over 1,100 signatures.
Commenting on this, Rory said: “I would like to urge everybody who uses the Post Office, to submit a response to the enquiry and, if they agree with me that the loss of our Penrith branch would be unacceptable, to sign my petition. My team and I will be circulating physical petitions around Penrith, and there is also an online petition that can be found at https://www.change.org/p/richard-hall-save-penrith-post-office or by Googling ‘Save Penrith Post Office’.
“I’m hopeful that, by demonstrating the strength of local feeling on this issue, we will be able to make the Post Office management think again. I’d like to thank everybody who has signed, so far, and encourage everybody else to do so. Our Post Offices are far too precious to lose.”
