Sinn Fein in Park and Craigbane has said it has successfully persuaded the Post Office to revise its decision to reduce the current Post Office services available in Park village.
Sinn Fein’s Diarmuid Ward.
A proposal to reduce the number of days and hours available in Learmount Resource Centre to four hours a week was put out to public consultation last December and January.
Diarmuid Ward, Sinn Féin’s local election candidate in the new Sperrin electoral area, said the party organised the campaign against the proposal after forming the view a reduction in existing services would lead to closure “within a short period.”
He added: “Such services in rural communities need to be retained, not removed.
“Sinn Féin members organised both a petition and a survey to prove the case for maintaining local Post Office provision and proving the level of demand.
“There was an excellent local response to the survey and questionnaire, which Cumann members took to people’s homes in the village and surrounding areas mid January.
“We then did a meeting with senior Post Office management to explain the needs and feelings of the local community.”
As a result the Post Office has said it will continue with full services at the Learmount Centre three days a week: Monday 11.00am – 1.00pm, Wednesday 1.30pm – 3.30pm and Thursday 10.00am – 12.00pm.
Mr Ward said he was “particularly pleased” the Post Office agreed with Sinn Féin that the local service should stay open to coincide with the Over 60 Club, so that pensioners could collect their pensions and benefits with minimum inconvenience.
He concluded: “I am particularly pleased with that outcome. This successful local campaign proves that with good political leadership representing the needs of communities, positive results can be delivered even in the face of attempts to introduce cutbacks.”
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