Nicholas Soames met with the Minister of State for Employment Relations and Postal Affairs at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on Monday 18th February.

Commenting on the meeting Mr Soames said; “I told the Minister that local people felt very let down by what was clearly a sham consultation; that these four Post Offices (London Road and Lower Church Road branches in Burgess Hill and America Lane and Franklands Village branches in Haywards Heath) were extremely well supported and much valued by local people; that they provided a vital service to the community which people rightly regard as being an essential part of the social infrastructure of Mid Sussex; that no account appeared to be taken about the needs of elderly people and indeed mothers and children; that Mid Sussex was due to take a vast number of new houses over the next 20 years and that additional Post Office services would definitely be required and that the Post Office had totally ignored the aspect of ‘convenience’ for local people.”

Mr Soames went on to say that he pressed the Minister to ask Post Office Ltd to ensure that other branches had additional facilities to cope with the extra customers and that steps would be taken to try and ensure easier access including disability parking.

Nicholas Soames said; “This is part of the general undermining of the quality of life in Mid Sussex in a thoroughly unwarranted manner. I deeply regret the Government’s action in insisting these branches are to close and I am going to do all that I can to try to prevent any further closures in Mid Sussex in the build up to the next run in 2011.”