Crunch Time for North Warwickshire and Bedworth Post Offices



 

We have now learned which Post Offices in North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth are among the 2,500 local branches being cut by Gordon Brown. The list of branches to be closed was published on 24 June 2008.

Post Offices being cut by Gordon Brown include:

Arley Post Office, Old Arley
Lea Marston Post Office, Lea Marston
Piccadilly Post Office, Piccadilly
Ratcliffe Road Service Station, Atherstone
Collycroft Road, Bedworth
Newtown Road, Bedworth
Manor Court Rd Post Office, Nuneaton
Ridge Lane Post Office, Nuneaton
Bramcote Post Office, Nuneaton

If your local Post Office is on the list, you will only have 6 weeks to make your voice heard in the public consultation.

It is vital that everyone who wants to save their local branch makes their voice heard. You can do so by writing to:

National Consultation Team,
Post Office Ltd,
FREEPOST CONSULTATION TEAM

or by emailing: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

I believe that Post Office cuts hit the elderly and the vulnerable hardest. The Conservatives have pledged to immediately stop the compulsory closure of profitable sub-post offices.

Dan Launches 2008 Crime Campaign

"Crime and antisocial behaviour are the two top issues people want to talk about when I speak with them on the streets and the doorsteps of North Warwickshire and Bedworth. It is blighting people's lives. Here in Warwickshire, we are seeing first hand the results of Labour's failure to tackle crime. Last year in North Warwickshire, violent crime rose 10%; while in Nuneaton and Bedworth, robbery was up 30% and burglary a staggering 40%. Enough is enough."

"Crime isn't a right wing issue or a left wing issue. It is a daily threat that all people - rich, poor, black, white, urban and rural - face in their daily lives. And the sad fact is that Labour's approach is failing."
 

"While crime rates soar, police resignations have tripled under this Government. Labour are releasing a prisoner early EVERY TWENTY MINUTES because they haven't built enough prisons. Meanwhile Ministers try to tell us that crime is falling, but no one outside the New Labour champagne bubble really believes that. The police are doing a magnificent job, but they have one hand tied behind their backs thanks to the madness of Labour's red tape and form filling culture."

"The Conservatives are proposing a three dimensional approach: to liberate the Police, punish the guilty and strengthen our society and our families. This is a positive approach that stands in stark contrast to Labour's ineffective authoritarianism."

"I've been out with my team of volunteers on the highstreets of North Warwickshire and Bedworth, handing out free Crime Advice Packs and conducting a five question ‘quick crime survey.' The response from local people has been overwhelming:

"Everybody I spoke to felt angry and let down. I spoke with local shopkeepers who are resigned to the fact that their windows are broken every few months. I spoke with young people and pensioners alike who don't feel safe walking through the town centre after 5pm. 95% of those who answered said they felt that crime and antisocial behaviour are getting worse over the last couple of years.

"Crime is rising, but Labour are releasing a prisoner early every twenty minutes because Gordon Brown refused to fund enough prison places when he was Chancellor. We asked people whether they support the Government spending up to £20 billion on compulsory ID cards, or whether they prefer the Conservative plan to scrap ID cards and spend the money on more prison places to keep criminals behind bars. 83% said they'd prefer to see the money spent on prison places than ID cards.

"The policemen and women we trust our safety to are on the front line everyday in the struggle against crime, but under Labour they are drowning in red tape, police resignations have tripled, and for the first time in a generation the police are voting on whether they should strike. The Government has lost the confidence and support of rank and file police officers. People don't want to see policing on the cheap. We asked people if they would rather see more trained police officers on the streets, even they are more expensive, or more Police Community Support Officers. The results are staggering: 96% of local people want more trained police officers on our streets, and not more PCSOs.

"The results of our survey are an indictment of 10 years of this Government's failure to tackle crime. Reoffending rates are up and detection rates are down. 11,000 criminals have been released early, and police officers spend on average only one hour in five actually on the beat. And most worrying of all, the police have lost confidence in the Government.

I was delighted to be chosen at an Open Primary as the Conservative Party’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for North Warwickshire. This is a very exciting time for the Conservatives nationally, and for North Warwickshire in particular. We now control the North Warwickshire Borough Council for the first time in history, and everywhere I go throughout the constituency, knocking on doors and speaking with people, I sense a real hunger for change.

Under David Cameron we have our best opportunity in a decade to end Labour’s damaging obsession with spin, and their centrally controlled, target driven approach to our public services.

Thanks to Labour’s mismanagement, essential services in North Warwickshire are under threat:

Post Offices. North Warwickshire has already lost eight of our rural Post Offices, and many more and under threat. In many rural and outlying urban areas, the post office is often the only local shop. When it goes, it is the vulnerable and the elderly who are hardest hit. I am the leading campaigner locally against further branch cuts.

The George Eliot Hospital. The Trust remains in deficit by millions of pounds, and has already closed 75 beds and cut 116 clinical posts over the last year as part of a cost reduction programme. Question marks remain over whether essential health services will continue to be provided locally. Simon Rouse (the Conservative Candidate for Nuneaton) and I are campaigning jointly, and are determined to keep a close eye on services at the George Eliot. Recently our two Labour opponents refused to join us for an independently chaired public debate about the future of healthcare in North Warwickshire, Bedworth and Nuneaton. They are determined to avoid debating the real issues that affect people's lives.

North Warwickshire Ambulance Service. Our ambulance service is being regionalised without us having a say. As a former Major in the Royal Army Medical Corps, I am well aware of the issues involved in providing a robust emergency response capability. Labour's approach is yet more centralisation. It won't do.

Threat to Greenbelt. The unelected West Midlands Regional Assembly is planning to impose up to 500,000 new houses in the region. Labour's Soviet-style housebuilding plans are centrally led, top  down and overly bureaucratic. They drive a coach and horses through local, democratic accountability.

Local Farmers. Local rural communities have suffered under Labour , from the ill-thought out and illiberal ban on hunting with dogs, to the fiasco of the Single Farm Payments Scheme. Frankly, Labour do not understand rural issues, and nor do they care.

Gordon Brown is already spinning furiously to pretend that he represents a break from the Blair-Brown years. He knows that the country is crying out for change, but all he has to offer is more of the same old Labour leadership. He has been at the heart of this discredited Government for the last ten years. Only David Cameron and the Conservatives can offer the change that the country needs.

The bottom line in North Warwickshire is, a vote for any other party is a vote for Labour. If you want change in North Warwickshire and Bedworth at the next General election, make yours a Conservative vote.
 
I will work hard for the ordinary people of North Warwickshire to protect our local public services. Your voice matters. Labour isn’t listening to it. We are.

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Post Office Update