She demands to know why an issue of such public import is being held in secret.
This should be a PUBLIC MEETING!
TO ALL MEMBERS FOR ABINGDON, COURTFIELD, EARL’S COURT, REDCLIFFE WARDS
Dear Councillors,
A meeting between ward Members and the Post Office Ltd representatives has been arranged for Friday 17 July at 9am (Kensington Town Hall). It is hoped all relevant wards will be represented at this meeting which will explore potential consequences of a merger of the two PO branches and when and where a public meeting is to be held before the consultation finishes on 16 September.
Please can you confirm if you will be able to attend.
Tricky one for Abingdon Ward Councillor Victoria Borwick. Which way will the MP vote? Post Office closures are a hot potato.
ReplyDeleteTypical Tory, greedy system playing ****
DeleteI have spoken with Victoria Borwick and she is leading the campaign to save it
ReplyDeleteLet's see if she puts her money where her mouth is, when the 'crunch time' comes... Let's hope she will not re-asses the issue..., as they say.....
DeleteThank you Robert for speaking to Victoria
DeleteCan we stick to the thrust of the blog rather dilate on Victoria Borwick....and the Dame declares an interest. She thinks highly of this hardworking lady.
DeleteAnyone with a problem always gets her attention.
Anyway, the Dame is proud to declare that she is a friend and admirer of Borwick
The Dame has fallen into the pox of Tory Kensington - OK for the in crowd, they can do anything, even if it is wrong. The papers today report that the Qatari's made a big donation to Blair's wife for fixing a meeting with Hilary Clinton. Wheels.
DeleteOFFICIAL. The Dame will not allow any bad words about the concoction known as "Ward Councillor for Abingdon, MP for Kensington, GLA representative for West London, spokeswoman for Boris and spokeswoman for Cameron".
DeleteThe Dame got stuffed. Because she likes to consort with a Lady. Very shallow.
The Dame is a terrible old snob. A mere Baron's wife holds no great attraction.
DeleteSorry, Victoria, but despite that, I still value your friendship and my admiration for you remains undimmed.
The Dame is seriously sick. RIP
DeleteThe Dame is, as always, as sharp as the pins that hold her magnifcent hairdo in place...
DeleteResidents can answer the PO's 'consultation' questions at comments@postioffice.co.uk Here are mine.
ReplyDelete1. How suitable you think the alternative branches are and how easy it is to get to them?
Not at all suitable. Earl’s Court is still much used; viz often 15 minute queues to be served. Earl’s Court is in effect a town within a city and needs to have a Post Office. Its population is set to rise dramatically with 7,500 new homes being built. It is bogus to suggest your plan will not adversely impact customers in SW5.
2. Are the alternative branches easy for you to get into and are they easily accessible inside?
No. Many residents are frail, disabled and elderly, depend on a local PO and cannot be expected to walk to High St Kensington -negotiating the crossing of the busy A4 en route - or further add to overcrowding on public transport. I would personally be massively inconvenienced, needing to drive or take transport (at a cost) to Sth Ken or High St Ken -laden with parcels - on the almost daily occasions I need to post them or simply to send an item by recorded delivery. Perversely, since you shut down the Earl’s Court Sorting Office residents now need to travel a mile in a different direction to Fulham Rd to recover sign-for items. Such time-consuming inconvenience does not in any way ‘meet customer needs’ as you put it.
3. Do you have any concerns about the proposal?
Yes, it is further evidence of how the PO is no longer the service it should be to the public. You axed perfectly viable sub-post offices hereabouts and now this.
4. If so, do you have any suggestions that could help us make it better for you?
If staffing costs are prohibitive, introduce walk-in offices equipped with banks of self-service tills like the two you have just introduced at Earl’s Court. It is galling to think you would squander thousands of pounds refurbishing the branch Earl’s Court, as you very recently did, only to close it.
5. Are there any local community issues which you think could be affected by the proposal?
Communities need a PO at their heart. Simple as!
Well done.. Your effort should be appreciate by all those who are affected by this issue..:-)
DeletePity we didn't have you lot on side in Chelsea before they started cutting POs in favour of empty boutiques and more ripping out of the heart of the community.
DeleteMore and more emails, less and less post. The expensive post offices need to be cut back because there is not enough business. It is uncomfortable for part of our needs, and especially the elderly who do not "do emails". But most of us can send letters for free, from the comfort of our arm chairs, via email.
ReplyDeleteThis is a load of hot air and a waste of politicians time to try and stop the future.
Cllr can talk up a storm about anything. What matters is how they vote.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely disgraceful, this should be discussed at a public meeting, its another example of high handed bureaucrats who do not give a damn about what matters to communities.
ReplyDeleteOf course there is a need, no demand for this post office, the queues outside it are evidence that it is needed right now, never mind when the other town is built on the Earls Court Exhibition site. It is is utter nonsense to think otherwise, so whats the real agenda? Who will buy this building? What will they do with it? More flats for non doms? or will it lay empty like Kings Road's post office?
As for our MP Victoria Borwick I am in agreement with the Dame, nothing to do with her being a Tory, her workload speaks for itself, she is one of the most hard working intelligent (we need at least one in Hornton Street!) Councillors and MP's! A serious multi tasking Lady.
If you read the letter to the ward councillors properly you will see that one of the matters to be discussed is the forthcoming public meeting at which residents will be able to make their views known. It really is not an issue for the Ward Councillors to meet the Post Office as well to hear their plans and discuss the options, it is not to the exclusion of the public, they have their chance at the public meeting a little later. It is also considerably more likely that a better way forward can be found at a meeting like that where options can be explored fully because they are in private than that anything will change at a public meeting.
ReplyDeleteIt is also very likely that, in my opinion totally correctly, the Cllrs want to have a proper discussion with the Post Office without the heckling, chanting, interruptions, threats, and general disruption that will inevitably occur at the public meeting because residents always seem to think that their sense of outrage gives them carte blanche to behave like yobs at these things.
So although many of you just want to find any excuse to attack your elected representatives, on this occasion you really are wrong to do so this meeting might actually be the best chance there is to save the services.
Can you please make yourself more clearly understandable.
DeleteResidents become upset because, all too often, inept councillors forced upon them by the 'system' , are intellectually incapable of doing an effective job.
This comment is obviously from a classic example of that malaise....Cllr Spalding!
Its interesting to see how some of these Ego centric Councillors think its all about them! The main trail of this post is not actually about how manipulative, devious, arrogant and utterly useless some Councillors are. 0.09 absolutely yet again demonstrates the contempt some Councillors have for the residents they represent, who have the audacity to get in the way of their plans. 0.09 is clearly a 'sore' Councillor, the public meetings I've attended about the destruction of Earls Court did not end in yobs, threatening, chanting or heckling. In fact they were civilised meetings where pertinent questions and concerns were raised, none of which were addressed by anyone. The residents who have read this post clearly know it is the Post Office that are wanting to close the Earls Court office, no doubt they are awaiting the wisdom of their 'representatives' and I use that term very loosely in Earls Court to stand by their wishes.
ReplyDeleteIf you use Quickbooks for your business on a regular basis, i think you will like this Quickbooks tool called Quickbooks Tool Hub
ReplyDelete