GEORGE Mudge complains (Letters May 26) that changes in the main Post Office in Tavistock will be made because ?we in Great Britain are obliged to comply with EU regulation 97/67/EU and 2002/46/EU which opens up our postal service to competition. His letter implies that the European Union somehow imposed this policy of open competition on us against our will. But the EU has no power to make such an imposition, and if there are to be changes in Tavistock?s Post Office they will be the result of our own government?s decisions. Rightly or wrongly, our Government is strongly in favour of opening postal services to increased competition. This was the message of the Government White Paper on Postal Services Reform published in July 1999. The following year our Parliament at Westminster passed the Postal Services Act, which authorised the Post Office to operate as a business. The Government believes that increased competition will lead to ?greater choice, increased quality and keener prices for consumers, and increased efficiency in the Royal Mail? (DTI website). So it is hardly reasonable for those of us who dislike what is happening to our post offices to blame the European Union. It is not surprising that British ministers supported the decision that led to the EU?s regulation 97/67/EU, because the regulation is entirely consistent with their policy. Had they opposed it, the regulation would either have taken a different form or might not have been approved at all. The EU is composed of its member states, and has no power to impose rules on them against their will. Regulation 2002/46/EC has nothing to do with postal services. As Mr Mudge acknowledges later in his letter, it is about food supplements. Christopher Denne Churchtown Farm Sydenham Damerel WHILST acknowledging that the Post Office has to address its financial problems, I have the following reservations about the current proposals: 1, Tavistock market and town shops which struggle to sell fresh local produce do not need another supermarket as competition, and on their doorstep. 2, Tavistock Post Office building is in the architecturally-admired heart of an important market town (basing much of its success on its history and local produce). We need assurance that if this proposal does go ahead the building will not be adorned with Spar graphics and promotions. 3. Frequently, the current post Office is so full that queues stretch outside the building so we also need assurance that the Post Office will continue to provide and improve the existing services to the town and outlying rural areas. 4. The parking problem which is already huge and unresolved in Tavistock will only be exacerbated by the proposal. Elizabeth Challis Old Crebor Farm Gulworthy
