POST OFFICE CLOSURES IN ADUR AND WORTHING

That this House notes the proposals to close no fewer than nine sub-post office branches in Adur and Worthing representing some 50 per cent. of the sub-post offices in East Worthing and Shoreham constituency alone, against the national average for closure of 18 per cent. of branches; further notes that virtually the whole of Sompting and Lancing, England's largest village, will be expected to rely on one remaining Crown office to serve a population of over 29,000; highlights the disproportionate effect on the high local pensioner population and areas of deprivation in particular and the unsustainable demands that are already being placed on the surviving branches; regrets the impact this will have on carbon emissions with a survey from one Lancing sub-post office alone calculating that the effect of passengers driving to alternative locations will be to generate 25 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year requiring the planting of 31 acres of woodland to offset; and calls on the Post Office to acknowledge the very strong levels of local opposition to these proposals and to reconsider the criteria by which they have selected these particular branches for closure in such vulnerable circumstances.