Wycombe Liberal Democrats

The Government has decided to axe another 2,500 Post Offices, and yesterday we learned which Post Offices are facing closure in Buckinghamshire. They include:

• North Town, Totteridge Road, High Wycombe (pictured above)
• Loudwater, Station Road, High Wycombe
• Hazlemere Crossroads, High Wycombe
• Desborough Road, High Wycombe
• Wycombe Lane, Wooburn Green
• The Parade, Bourne End

Parliamentary Spokesman, Steve Guy said

Post Offices are the lifeblood of communities in both rural and urban areas, particularly when they are combined with other services, such as the local shop. When the local post office closes other services often follow suit, which can be devastating for the community. Yesterday I visited one of the Post Offices affected. North Town Post Office in Totteridge Lane serves between 750 and 1000 customers every week. Nearby elderly residents are devastated that their local Post Office is going to close. They tell me that their local Post Office helps them to maintain their independence.

What is particularly sad is that all of these closures could be avoided. In 2006, the Liberal Democrats set out a detailed, fully costed set of proposals which would secure the future of our Post Office network - and even allow for the opening of new ones. The Post Office network is a wonderful asset which has been allowed to wither on the vine by successive governments, both Tory and Labour. We will be campaigning vigorously against all of these heartless, unnecessary closures.

You can sign our petition at Northtown Post Office, and we will be visiting all of the other Post Offices affected over the next few days to find out how the threat of closure is affecting their customers.

With the development of Eden what is going to happen to our local shops?

We are seeing small businesses being pushed out of business by the weight of the large retailers, Trevor Snaith and Ray Farmer are asking the council to invest in our local communities to support local shops for local people

The Friends of the Earthg have recently produced an advert you may find interesting

Click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGoWKVA87ro

 The competition authorities are currently investigating supermarkets.

In January they published their interim report. In this report, they recognised several potential problems related to supermarket dominance.

The next stage of this inquiry is crucial. Tough action is urgently needed to control the power of the supermarkets.

We have the opportunity to ask the Competition Commission to make the grocery industry fairer for everyone.

We must urge them to investigate the things that really matter:

• Stronger planning policies
  Needed to protect smaller shops.
• Supermarket code of practice
  Needed to protect the interests of consumers, farmers, workers and the environment.

After all, who wants cheap food if it’s at the expense of people and the planet?

The Post Office network is crumbling. Over the last two decades, post offices have been closing at a rate of over 300 a year. Under the last Conservative Government, 3,500 local post offices closed, and under Labour another 4,000 have closed, hitting communities across the country. And things are set to get even worse. On 14 December 2006 Alastair Darling announced the start of a consultation period likely to result in 2,500 more Post Office closures. Only the Lib Dems have a 5 point plan to save local Post Offices If your local Post Office closed, you could be forced to use the already extremely busy Post Office in High Wycombe. Not only that, but the loss of a local Post Office can lead to other local shops losing trade and closing too. Wycombe Liberal Democrats will fight tooth and nail to retain your local services, just as they did when the West Wycombe library was threatened with closure.