WEST Devon's Use your Post Office Campaign has won support from MP Geoffrey Cox — he joined West Devon mayor Cllr Ken Williams at Milton Abbot Post Office to meet postmistress Hilary Pitt and several of her customers. The visit came at the end of a week of campaigning as the council sent out a message of support to its rural and town post offices, and encouraged people to use the many services on offer. Cllr Williams said the week's activities, which included a post office trail across the borough, and a meeting with local representatives of the National Federation of Sub Postmasters, had been a great success. He said: 'The last week is just the first phase of an ongoing campaign from the council. Our visits this week have made us even more aware how vital our local post offices are to the communities they serve. 'It was a privilege to meet so many postmasters and mistresses to see how much hard work they put into the service and into their communities. 'We all understand far better the difficulties they are facing and it is so important that the council does whatever it can to sustain morale.' Mr Cox, MP for West Devon and Torridge, said: 'I'm delighted to support the West Devon Borough Council campaign. Post offices are at the heart of our communities and it's vitally important that we all use the very many services they provide.' He said he recently met Alan Cook, the managing director of the Post Office Ltd, at Westminster to discuss proposals to close 2,500 post offices across the country. Mr Cox said Mr Cook could provide no timetable for the closures but he was given an assurance that the Post Office would undertake a genuine local consultation after identifying sub-post offices that may be affected. He said: 'I enjoyed a useful meeting with Alan Cook, who was able to answer some of the questions about the closure process that I have been raising since before Christmas. 'But it is now painfully clear that the Government's schedule for the implementation of its plans is far too short to digest and respond properly the many and detailed representations they will receive. 'For the Government to be able to respond to the national consultation within three weeks can only mean that they are unwilling to be moved from their own plans.' Mr Cox stressed that the local consultation period for sub-post offices in West Devon should be doubled from six to 12 weeks.
