THE Post Office has been criticised over its consultation about the proposed closure of urban post offices including those in Yeovil and Chard.

Yeovil MP David Laws said that the Post Office consultation over the planned closure of branches throughout the country was a 'sham' and that the company was not interested in the public's view.

He said it was clearly shown by the fact that only 30 out of more than 650 closures were reconsidered following public consultation. The new figures ere obtained by Mr Laws after a question to ministers.

Mr Laws believes there should be proper consultation before post office closures. He is particularly angered as the lack of consultation will damage local communities such as Yeovil who have been chosen to lose branches.

"I am very disappointed that the Post Office has done so little to make the consultation over post offices a genuine and serious one," he said. "Six weeks is far too short a period of time to collect the opinions of local residents and new figures I have obtained show that just 30 out of more than 650 urban post office closures proposed to date have been reconsidered following public consultation.

"The figures I have received from the Post Office just confirm my opinion that this consultation was a sham. To have less than five per cent of closures reconsidered after speaking to the public speaks volumes."

Mr Laws said there needed to be a 'coherent and considered' review of postal services in our area, but the Post Office seems unwilling to do this.

"They have instead simply chosen to initiate fairly arbitrary procedure of closure. The specific needs of local people are not being taken into account.

"I will continue to press the Post Office management to ensure that there is real consultation of the future of local services."