30 November 2007 - Green MEP Caroline Lucas is working with communities across the city to fight against the proposed local post office closures. They are organising a Public Meeting to debate the issue, and to allow local people to opportunity to voice their concerns.

The meeting is to be held on Thursday 6 December at 7,00pm in the Lecture Hall of the Friends Meeting House I Ship Street. The venue is just a few doors down from the empty shell that was once Brighton’s Crown Post Office, before its closure in October.

Confirmed speakers at the meeting include local historian, Selma Montford MBE, Green Party parliamentary candidate, Dr Caroline Lucas MEP, and Gary Herbert of Post Office Ltd.

Also invited, and awaiting response are Celia Barlow, Labour MP for Hove, and David Bull, Tory parliamentary candidate, and a representative from the postal workers’ union, CWU.

Councillor Bill Randall, Green Party spokesperson for Communities, said: "How this organisation can advertise itself as the ‘people’s post office’ when it is callously ripping the heart our of our communities, is beyond belief. Not content with robbing the city of its main post office, they are now planning to close five more. We must fight these cuts before it is too late because, once closed, they will never be replaced."

Dr Caroline Lucas MEP said: "Plans to close post offices in Brighton and across Sussex are nothing short of a disaster. "Post Offices provide much more than just access points for postal services - they are a community hub, especially for the elderly, disabled and less mobile. Deciding to shut the on the basis of how much profit they make for a privately-run business is scandalous and short-sighted."
ENDS